New Cricket Ireland CEO Sarah Keane and High Performance Director Graham West met the media for the first time on Friday as, along with CI chairman Brian McNeice, they unveiled what they called a landmark year of fixtures and strategic momentum.

Opening the meeting on Teams, McNeice said the governing body were fulfilling their commitment to increase the volume of cricket. The Women’s World Cup, in England, would be the highlight of the summer with an exciting body of fixtures for the team before and after the tournament, starting with a Tri-series against West Indies and Pakistan and ending with a three-match ODI series in England.

He was “delighted to confirm” a two-match Men’s T20 series against India at the end of May, and England are set to be  the first opponents in 2029 when the new stadium at Abbotstown opens.

The chairman also announced a long-term strategic partnership with the UAE and Nepal which will see regular series played against Ireland, the UAE also being used as a winter training camp.

West, who is now the sole Director of Cricket, after Richard Holdsworth stepped down this week, confirmed that the Women’s Super Series has been reduced to two teams to ensure high-quality and more competitive action with the Future series being enhanced for those players who do not make the Typhoons and Dragons teams.

There will  be no Munster team in the Men’s inter-provincials for the same reason, to make the games more competitive and challenging.

The Men’s summer schedule has been placed in three distinctive blocks with a four-day Emerald Challenge game taking place ahead of the four-day Test match at Stormont against New Zealand. The T20 inter-pros then follow in the first two weeks of June ahead of the India internationals and the 50-over inter-pros follow in July ahead of the five-match ODI series against Afghanistan.

The scheduled Test match against Afghanistan and the white-ball series against Bangladesh, in the Future Tours Programme for this summer, have been dropped, the former for financial reasons and the latter for logistical and financial.

However, the inaugural ETPL (European franchise league) is still green for go with confirmed dates from August 26-September 20 with games in Malahide. The Ireland Wolves will also go to Zimbabwe  in October. 
 
Cricket Ireland are awaiting confirmation of when the qualifying tournament for the 2027 World Cup takes place but with multi-format series away to Pakistan and against Afghanistan next winter, plus the fixtures against Nepal and UAE, there should be at least 15 ODIs between now and the qualifiers in the United States, expected to be in mid-summer.

As part of the agreement with the UAE, six Ireland players will take part in the annual ILT20 tournament in December and subsequent years.

Sarah Keane, in her first address to the media since starting in the role on March 1, admitted she had to hit the ground running and promised she would "bring you with us", moving forward.

On  the controversial decision to play Afghanistan in August she confirmed that the decision was only taken on Wednesday after a 90-minute board meeting when it was the sole item on the agenda.

It was an “honest and open discussion, not always easy” and did not get unanimous backing but she stressed that as an ICC member they should play fellow ICC members. The decision to play the series, while there is “a moral discomfort and open abhorrence at the treatment of women in the country, it is “in the best interest of the organisation” for it to go ahead.

Keane also said the Afghanistan Women’s team needs to be supported and to that end Cricket Ireland have invited the team to play Ireland, although it won’t be this year.

The CEO confirmed the broadcast deal for the next few years was a “massive focus” and funds have been found for a full-time pathway manager for women’s cricket. “Not enough has been done around our pathway, male and female, and others are catching up.

Also in the pipeline for 2027 and beyond is a European Nations Cup, for men and women, with up to six teams involved and England are on board.

“it wasn’t long ago that we were an Associate nation and it is our responsibility to play Associate teams,” said McNeice.

There will be a further announcement on Monday when the central contracts for men and women (totalling 48) will be released, with more women moving to full-time contracts.