ZCZC
BSP-20
CRICKET-IRISH-EMERGING
Emerging team takes on Ireland Wolves in lone T20, eying tour sweep
DHAKA, March 15, 2021 (BSS)- The Bangladesh Emerging team will take on the
visiting Ireland Wolves in the only T20 game tomorrow (Tuesday) at Sher-e-
Bangla National Cricket Stadium with an aim to complete a tour sweep.
The hosts had already won the lone four-dayer game by an innings and 23-run
margin before inflicting a 4-0 defeat on the Irish side in five-match one-day
series. The first one-day was called off after an Irish player Ruhan
Pretorius was found Covid-19 positive.
Pretorius’s positive result left the series in uncertain state but much to
the delight, all of the players, staff and stakeholders of the series
including Pretorius himself returned negative, just a day after that
incident. Therefore the series went as planned.
Bangladesh won the first one-day by four wickets, second by six wickets,
third by eight wickets before clinching a hard-fought five-run victory in the
fifth and final game.
If they win the only T20 game tomorrow, Bangladesh will keep the Ireland
Wolves win-less in the whole tour and as result can achieve a tour sweep.
The T20 series originally was a two-match series but it was cut short to
one game. The Covid-19 related restrictions in Ireland about their transit
country on the flight back home forced them to reduce the length of the tour
basically.
Cricket Ireland (CI) said in a statement that both boards– the CI and the
Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB)– had agreed to the change in the itinerary,
which originally had two T20 matches scheduled for March 17 and 18.
“While unfortunate that we will be sacrificing one T20, Irish authorities
have advised that extensions of quarantining regulations for in-bound
passengers to Ireland flying through Category 2 ‘red list’ countries mean a
compulsory 14-day hotel quarantine,” Richard Holdsworth, Cricket Ireland’s
high performance director, said.
“As our route home was via the UAE, that would mean our squad would be
caught up under these regulations — regardless of whether we were stopping
over or simply transiting through — so we have had to re-route the players
home via another country not on the red-list.
“We’ve always said that the mental and physical health and welfare of our
squads are our first priority, so avoiding a 14-day hotel quarantine was
essential.”
BSS/SMP/SSS/1855 hrs