Ireland's men's cricket team will host the world number one sides in both the One Day International (New Zealand) and T20 (India) formats this year and also play a T20 series against South Africa in England.
The biggest home season of international cricket that Irish fans have seen will see Ireland take on four full Members across 15 matches.
Thirteen of the matches will be played across the international venues in Ireland, while the series against South Africa will be hosted at The Bristol County Ground in Bristol. None of the scheduled fixtures are Test matches.
Ireland will play white-ball series against India, New Zealand, South Africa and Afghanistan over a two-month period, starting 26 June at Malahide.
The three-match ODI series between Ireland and New Zealand – the world’s top-ranked ODI side - will be part of the ICC World Cup Super League, a crucial set of fixtures in Ireland’s 2023 World Cup qualification campaign.
India’s visit replicates the two-match T20 series staged in Malahide in 2018 in front of sell-out crowds.
The five-match T20I series against Afghanistan is currently being finalised, with dates and venues to be announced shortly, but the the scheduled home Test match and ODIs against Afghanistan against the same opponents will not take place in 2022.
In addition, the scheduled multi-format men’s series against Bangladesh set for 2022 has been moved to summer 2023 and the the proposed tour to Zimbabwe in April 2022 has been moved to early 2023.
The full fixture list for Ireland women will shortly be announced and will also represent the largest number of women's home internationals for the senior squad, against top opposition.
Warren Deutrom, Chief Executive of Cricket Ireland, said: "2022 is set to be the biggest summer of international cricket ever in Ireland, with Irish cricket fans able to enjoy watching some of the world’s best players on show.
"Arranging and allocating fixtures is always a complicated process given our facility constraints. These challenges require a juggling act around loading on our international pitches, hosting and touring costs, the needs of hosting clubs, reciprocity with opponents, scheduling our elite domestic competitions, profitability of fixtures and taking our men’s and women’s teams around the island. Of course, Covid has also played its part in shifting the sands of the [Future Tour Programmes].
"Taking all these into consideration, we decided to postpone both this year’s planned tour to Zimbabwe in April and the home Bangladesh series into 2023. This will help alleviate some of these factors, spread the cost of men’s cricket over two years, and also spread the fixture load across 2022 and 2023, in particular given that the World Cup’s delay to the end of the year has left us to fill the 2023 home season.
"Even with these changes, we’re still hosting a record amount of men’s cricket against some of the world’s top teams this year – with more exciting announcements to come around our women’s fixtures.
"Just as importantly, with full crowds permitted to return, we look forward to seeing fans flock back to the grounds. Our thanks to our fellow ICC members, the Provincial Unions, host clubs and our event partners for supporting us on putting this programme together – with so many big teams and big names set to feature in Ireland, this will truly be a season full of stars."
2022 fixtures
Ireland Men v India Men T20I series
Sunday 26 June: Ireland v India, 1st T20I (Malahide, subject to licence)
Tuesday 28 June: Ireland v India, 2nd T20I (Malahide, subject to licence)
Ireland Men v New Zealand Men series
Sunday 10 July: Ireland v New Zealand, 1st ODI (Malahide)
Tuesday 12 July: Ireland v New Zealand, 2nd ODI (Malahide)
Friday 15 July: Ireland v New Zealand, 3rd ODI (Malahide)
Monday 18 July: Ireland v New Zealand, 1st T20I (Stormont)
Wednesday 20 July: Ireland v New Zealand, 2nd T20I (Stormont)
Friday 22 July: Ireland v New Zealand, 3rd T20I (Stormont)
Ireland Men v South Africa Men T20I series
Wednesday 3 August: Ireland v South Africa, 1st T20I (Bristol)
Friday 5 August: Ireland v South Africa, 2nd T20I (Bristol)
