Ireland and hosts United States agreed to cancel the one-day international (ODI) series between the two sides after two members of the touring staff tested positive for Covid-19, the two boards announced on Tuesday.
The two teams had played a Twenty20 series which ended 1-1 while the ODI series in Florida was interrupted by coronavirus cases first detected amongst the USA squad and umpires.
Ireland And Hosts USA Agree To Cancel
The ODI leg of the white-ball cricket series between the United States and Ireland was canceled because of coronavirus-related concerns.
“While all players in both current playing squads have returned negative Covid results overnight, two members of the Irish support staff have tested positive, as well as several partners of players, resulting in two of the Irish players being deemed as ‘close contacts’,” the two boards said in a statement.
“As such the risks and concerns about further spread have meant that both Boards have regrettably agreed to cancel the remaining two scheduled matches.”
The first game of the three-match series had already been cancelled, and the second one-day international was put back a day after Covid-19 cases were detected among the umpiring team and members of the USA squad. The second and third games were due to take place on Wednesday and Thursday.
Ireland Scheduled To Tour Caribbean To Face West Indies In 3 ODIs And 1 T20I In January 2022
The visit of Ireland was the first time the United States had hosted an International Cricket Council (ICC) full member nation. Ireland is scheduled to tour the Caribbean to face the West Indies in three ODIs and one T20I in January. They will fly to Kingston, Jamaica on Friday but the two members who tested positive will complete their isolation in Florida
“From a broader perspective, consideration had to be given to the current series as well as the second leg of our tour,” Cricket Ireland’s high performance director Richard Holdsworth said.
“We need to be mindful of travel requirements for entering Jamaica and meeting Cricket West Indies Covid protocols.”
The only T20I match between Ireland and West Indies could be the farewell match for Chris Gayle. The legendary West Indies player wished to play his final international game in front of his home crowd at Kingston, Jamaica.
In the 1st T20I, Gajanand Singh and Sushant Modani’s 110-run partnership was the gift that kept on giving to the small but vocal crowd that chanted for the home side throughout a remarkable 26-run win over Ireland.
On a day that was historic from the start with the USA hosting a Test nation in a bilateral series for the first time, the home team decided to put an exclamation point in the history books by marking the occasion with their first-ever T20I win over a Full Member.
It went down to the final over, but Ireland managed to just about avoid another defeat in their rematch with the USA in Florida, Lorcan Tucker‘s charmed 84 making the difference in a nine-run win on Thursday night at Broward County Stadium, as the series ended 1-1.
1st T20I:- United States of America 188 for 6 (Gajanand 65, Modani 50, McCarthy 4-30) beat Ireland 162 for 6 (Tucker 57*, Netravalkar 2-26, Patel 2-27) by 26 runs
2nd T20I:- Ireland 150 (Tucker 84, Netravalkar 3-33, Vaghela 2-16) beat USA 141 for 7 (Modani 27, Campher 4-25) by nine runs