Cricket Ireland have confirmed that the senior men's team's white ball tour of Zimbabwe has been postponed due to concerns over Covid-19.
Zimbabwe Cricket officials advised their Irish counterparts that the planned tour to the southern African nation in April cannot proceed at present due to the ongoing coronavirus situation there.
The Ireland squad was due to fly to Harare on 28 March and play a three-match T20 International series, followed by a three-match one-day international series in April.
Zimbabwe Cricket and Cricket Ireland have agreed to reschedule the tour for a later date.
Cricket Ireland's High Performance Director, Richard Holdsworth, admits that the news did not come as a surprise.
“We’re obviously disappointed, but to be honest, it is not an unexpected announcement from our Zimbabwean counterparts," said Holdsworth.
"We appreciate their efforts and willingness to try and make the tour possible, but in the end the health and safety of players and support staff must be of primary consideration."
The senior men’s squad have only just returned from Dubai where they drew a shortened series with the UAE before suffering a disappointing series whitewash against Afghanistan.
Their year ahead is still a potentially busy 12 months, with three visiting teams during the summer, several scheduled tours and a T20 World Cup in October.
"We’ll now look at whether alternate fixtures can be arranged during that period, which is a crucial window in advance of a busy home season and in a T20 World Cup year," added Ho
"This places even greater importance on the proposed Ireland Wolves tour in February/March given the need to provide many of our players the volume and quality of cricket we need to keep the momentum in player development we have been seeing over the last few years.
"We expect to be providing an update on the Wolves situation in coming days."
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