It's a happy St Patrick's Day for Ireland as a three-match T20I series against India is finally announced. The games will take place at Malahide from August 18-23.

The high profile matches will be the only chance for fans to see Ireland at home in 2023, after the confirmation of the decision to play the three World Cup Super League games in Chelmsford.

A series clean sweep would give Heinrich Malan's side a real chance of automatic World Cup qualification, avoiding the need to play in the qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe.

With a T20 World Cup Qualifier also being held in Scotland in July, it's a pivotal period for Irish cricket and their financial situation.

CEO Warren Deutrom outlined the rationale behind the decision to forego home advantage for the crucial Super League clashes.

"While they are home matches, we’ve made the decision to play the fixtures in Chelmsford.

"The reason for this is mostly around maximising our chances of playing the three matches – as we need to play and win the three games to qualify.

“After in-depth consideration, it was decided that this approach gave us the best chance of securing automatic qualification particularly given the fact that the matches have to be played before the World Cup Super League cut-off in mid-May. We need a venue where the weather patterns and playing facilities give us the best chance of mitigating any rain impacts.

"Unfortunately, it is likely too early in the Irish season to prepare pitches to ODI standard unless we have a remarkably dry April. This only underscores our determination to accelerate the development of our permanent venue infrastructure, an objective which remains among my most pressing.”

Deutrom also confirmed the cancellation of the T20 series against Bangladesh and the Wolves' planned games against Bangladesh A.

“Given the congestion of fixtures, and the need to balance priorities in this financially-challenging year, we have had to postpone a number of fixtures – namely four T20Is against Bangladesh Men and a tour to Ireland by Bangladesh A.

"While the men’s T20Is will likely be rescheduled to a time that would be more beneficial to play that format – such as a lead up to a T20 World Cup – the latter is a choice we tried hard to avoid, understanding the importance of the Wolves programme in preparing our players for international cricket. However, these are postponements rather than a cancellation, and we’ll work with the BCB to identify a time when we can play the series.”

It's almost a year since Ireland Wolves last played, and it looks very much like there will be another home summer with no competitive games.