Ireland are getting ready to host their first-ever T20 series against England, which starts on Wednesday. They’ll be looking to the past for inspiration as they try to claim a famous series win.
Ireland will play England three times in five days after the series starts on Wednesday. The two countries have played twice in T20, a game that was abandoned in 2010 thanks to rain, and a famous win for Ireland at the 2022 T20 World Cup.
While England are going in without their Test regulars ahead of the Ashes, with Bethell and Rehan Ahmed perhaps the only squad members who will make that trip in November. England scored their highest-ever international T20 score on Friday as they racked up an incredible 304-2 off just 20 overs against South Africa.
They’ll hope to follow up their drawn series with South Africa and win despite missing a number of their big guns; Jacob Bethell will captain England for the first time in the absence of the rested Harry Brook.
Going into the first T20 on Wednesday, the chances of an Ireland win in Dublin are slim, and as a result, Irish betting sites have them as 9/1 underdogs, while England are 1/14 odds-on favourites to win the first international.
Ireland and England will renew their famous rivalry
“Any time we play England, we know it’s a nice rivalry between the two teams and it’s been like that over the years,” said head coach Heinrich Malan, who was appointed to the role in January 2022
“This is the first time we’ve played a series against them, but we’ve faced them twice in T20S – the first was rained off, then that special night at the MCG. It’s setting up to be a nice, exciting week.”
Key players will miss Ireland v England series
However, Ireland will be without some key names who featured in their historic win at the 2022 T20 World Cup. Seamers Josh Little, Mark Adair and Fionn Hand all won’t feature in the series, and Malan admitted the trio will be a big loss: “It’s never ideal when you’re missing some of your quality players; we can all agree on that.
“In the same breath that creates opportunities, and this is definitely one of those. We see it as a benefit, not necessarily a challenge.
“The players that do come in get a better feel for the pace of international cricket and if things don’t work out they’ve got a couple of areas they can go back and work on. If things do work out, we’ve got some nice competition in our squad.”