Cricket Ireland has announced a new fixture schedule for Ireland Men's eight-match series against Zimbabwe that was postponed a fortnight ago.

The original dates were called off when government and public health advice around quarantine measures meant the series could not go ahead as planned.

Two of the T20 internationals will now be played at Clontarf, and the T20 international series will now be played prior to the World Cup Super League one-day internationals.

The Super League games will effectively serve as World Cup qualifier matches, given the league serves as part of the 2023 Cricket World Cup qualification process.

T20I series:

  • 27 August: Ireland Men v Zimbabwe Men - 1st T20I (Clontarf, start 12pm)
  • 29 August: Ireland Men v Zimbabwe Men – 2nd T20I (Clontarf, start 12pm)
  • 1 September: Ireland Men v Zimbabwe Men – 3rd T20I (Bready, start 3pm)
  • 2 September: Ireland Men v Zimbabwe Men – 4th T20I (Bready, start 3pm)
  • 4 September: Ireland Men v Zimbabwe Men – 5th T20I (Bready, start 3pm)

Wolves match:

  • 6 September: Ireland Wolves v Zimbabwe XI – ODM (Venue TBC, start 10.30am)

World Cup Super League series:

  • 8 September: Ireland Men v Zimbabwe Men – 1st ODI (Stormont, start 10.30am)
  • 10 September: Ireland Men v Zimbabwe Men – 2nd ODI (Stormont, start 10.30am)
  • 13 September: Ireland Men v Zimbabwe Men – 3rd ODI (Stormont, start 10.30am)

Cricket Ireland's High Performance Director Richard Holdsworth said: "In order to meet quarantining requirements in both jurisdictions, the visiting side will spend the first 10 days of their tour training and playing in the Republic under bio-secure protocols, then the two sides can then move to Northern Ireland to complete the series."

Ireland Men's Head Coach Graham Ford today reflected on the recent series against South Africa and looked ahead to the challenge of Zimbabwe.

He said: "I think the squad reinforced their character, toughness and commitment during the South Africa series, but there were some lessons that the players took away - very simply, we have learnt that we need to improve in all departments of the game in both formats to compete consistently at the highest level.

"As for the T20I series against the South Africans, while T20s can be a bit of a lottery, if you don't start each innings well the challenge of the game grows dramatically.

"Brave and courageous options are required at times, but if the options don’t work it is hard to recover in the limited time available. Unfortunately, we found ourselves in that situation in each game – particularly in the early powerplays. It’s an area we need to continue to work on.

"Zimbabwe have played excellent cricket recently and have a lot of players in good form at the moment, however once again we will go into the series looking to improve in all departments and not over-complicating things."