Cricket Ireland has announced that financial constraints have forced next May's planned home Test against Bangladesh to be downgraded to a T20 international and the cancellation of the August T20 series against Afghanistan.
Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said today that the body had faced "a number of financial headwinds" in "the transition from an associate member to the operations required of a full member".
"We were proud to become world cricket's 11th Test playing nation and have a long-term commitment to that format of the game.
"However, we have been very careful in our approach to Test cricket and understand that it is a long-term proposition to build up a competitive side in the long game, and will require significant investment in permanent infrastructure before we can make regular Test cricket financially sustainable.
"As a result of all of this, the board has had to make some tough decisions on the fixtures and ground allocations to ensure we can fulfil as much of the home programme as possible."
The Bangladesh fixture was to have been just Ireland's second home Test, following the defeat to Pakistan in summer 2018.
The rain cancellation of the first day of action against Pakistan caused a cash-flow crisis that meant Deutrom had to give Cricket Ireland a short-term loan of €100,000 later that year.
Ireland had been expected to receive International Cricket Council funding of $40m in the period 2015-23 but Deutrom said that "with an allocation amounting to less than half of that of Zimbabwe, our expected revenues from the ICC funding model for full members have not been realised.
"Although we generate a higher percentage of our own income outside of ICC funding than a number of more established nations, the fact is that it is insufficient to help us transition smoothly to our current status.
"This has been a great disappointment to us as we had hoped to have had an injection of new money into the sport from full membership that would have not only helped fulfil fixtures, but invest in infrastructure and the grassroots game across Ireland.
"We have been told that this expected shortfall is set to continue until 2023 when a new ICC funding model will be developed that will hopefully provide a greater share of the overall allocation, although of course that is still subject to discussion among all the members."
Deutrom also cited the postponement of the Euro T20 slam tournament, and the cost of both insurance and temporary infrastructure for internationals in the absence of a permanent cricket stadium.
He said that the decision had been taken to prioritise the likes of the ODIs against New Zealand and Bangladesh, which will count towards 2023 World Cup qualification, and the T20 series against Pakistan ahead of the World Cup in that format in October.
