The players tested positive following a screening of all team members after one player showed mild symptoms, as per the bio-secure protocols in place to ensure the safety of all participants in the nine-team event, which got underway in Harare on Sunday.

Two of the players are experiencing mild symptoms, whilst the third is asymptomatic. All three are isolating and receiving the appropriate medical care.

The remainder of the Sri Lanka squad are negative but are currently isolating as a precaution and will be re-tested ahead of their opening match against the Netherlands on Tuesday.

ICC Head of Events Chris Tetley said the event would be proceeding as planned: “We have playing squads of 15 at the event, which allows for injuries and illness, including COVID-19 to be managed, and in addition teams have had the option of bringing traveling reserves with them.

“As you would expect, the remainder of the squad are being closely monitored and they will all be re-tested ahead of taking to the field on Tuesday.

“The event bio-security plan provides us with protocols to manage positive tests effectively with the intention of enabling the event to proceed whilst keeping all other players and participants safe.”

Sri Lanka play the Netherlands in their opening match on Tuesday with their remaining Group A matches on Saturday (vs the West Indies) and Monday (vs Ireland).

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Zimbabwe and the USA form Group B, with three sides from each group making it to the Super Six stage, in which the final placings will be decided.

The tournament decides three qualifiers for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 to be held in New Zealand from 4 March to 3 April, joining five teams who have already qualified through the ICC Women’s Championship – Australia, England, India, South Africa and hosts New Zealand.

The three qualifiers as well as the next two teams will also ensure places in the next ICC Women’s Championship (IWC) along with the top five from last time, as the number of teams in the third cycle of the IWC goes up from eight to 10 teams.

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The loss to Sri Lanka on Wednesday means that Ireland must beat Namibia if they are to be part of the Super 12.

Namibia made history when they beat the Netherlands on Wednesday to claim their first-ever victory at an ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

This year’s instalment of the World Cup is their debut in the competition and they will want to make the most of the chance they have to progress.

The winner will move on to the next round to meet New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the highest-ranked side in Group B (currently Scotland).

Bowler Josh Little was a bright spark for Ireland in the heavy loss on Wednesday and his captain Andrew Balbirnie thinks that the Dubliner has been fantastic for the national side in the past year.

The 21-year-old returned career-best figures of four for 23 in Abu Dhabi, which featured two wickets in his first over and took his 2021 T20I wicket tally to 12 from nine matches.

Balbirnie said: “Josh Little bowled to his plans and he has been a real find for us this year, he has bowled beautifully for us up top and we put them in real trouble…Josh is a huge asset. He has been a force in ODI cricket this year and really come to the fore.”

Head coach Graham Ford has said that his side are “desperate” to progress to the Super 12 with a win over Namibia.

Ford said: “I think for us, we come to the tournament with a slightly different view to some of the bugger countries, in that we are gaining and learning with every single outing – trying to make as much progress in our cricket as possible.

“So, every game is important as far as that is concerned – to try and make those little improvements here and there and to sharpen our skills, and adapt to the extra pace in the pitches.

“Win or lose, we are gaining and we are learning, so that’s a big plus for us – but quite obviously we are desperate to go through to the next phase of the tournament as well.

“Despite the loss [yesterday] we are still alive and still in the competition, and that’s the important thing.”

Teams

Namibia: Gerhard Erasmus (C), Stephan Baard, Michau Du Preez, Zane Green, Bernard Scholtz, JJ Smit, Michael Van Lingen, Craig Williams, Karl Birkenstock, Jan Frylink, Nicol Loftie-Eaton, Ben Shikongo, Ruben Trumpelmann, David Weise, David Wiese, Pikky Ya France.

Ireland: Andrew Balbirnie (C), Mark Adair, Gareth Delany, Joshua Little, Kevin O’Brien, Simi Singh, Harry Tector, Benjamin White, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Andy McBrine, Neil Rock, Paul Stirling, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.

Where To Watch

The match will start at 11 am and will be available to watch on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket – coverage begins at 10:30 am.

You can keep track of the live score on the ICC website and Cricket Ireland will provide Twitter updates throughout the match.

The post Namibia v Ireland – Preview, Teams, Where To Watch appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

Little returned career-best figures of four for 23 in Abu Dhabi, which featured two wickets in his first over, but could not prevent Sri Lanka from winning by 70 runs to secure their own safe passage to the next round.

The 21-year-old left-armer might have been on the losing side here but his performance was impressive, taking his 2021 T20I wicket tally to 12 from nine matches.

He delivered two brilliant balls to clean bowl both Dinesh Chandimal and Avishka Fernando with back-to-back deliveries as Sri Lanka stumbled to eight for three and later removed Pathum Nissanka for 61 and Bhanuka Rajapaksa for just one.

In between, Nissanka and Wanindu Hasaranga put on a partnership of 123 for the fourth wicket to rebuild Sri Lanka’s innings and they eventually made 171 for seven.

The Lions then bowled Ireland out for 101 but Balbirnie was quick to praise Little after the match.

“I was excited at eight for three,” he said. “Josh Little bowled to his plans and he has been a real find for us this year, he has bowled beautifully for us up top and we put them in real trouble.

“But the way their guys came out and played was really impressive and took the innings away from us in the middle. But I thought we came back quite well.

“Josh is a huge asset. He has been a force in ODI cricket this year and really come to the fore.

“He showed off those new-ball skills and attacked the stumps. On these wickets, he comes into his own.”

Balbirnie knows Ireland lost control of the match when Hasaranga was batting but praised his side for the way they fought back to take four wickets in the last five overs.

It was a different story with the bat, however, as openers Paul Stirling and Kevin O’Brien fell cheaply to leave them in trouble early.

When Curtis Campher was dismissed for 24, Ireland lost regular wickets and succumbed to defeat.

The Irish captain praised the Sri Lankan bowling that snuffed out any chance of a successful chase.

He also talked about his time at-bat, where he lead his team in runs with 41 from 39 balls.

“It was obviously nice to spend time in the middle tonight – I was hoping that I may have gone at a better rate, but with the small boundary on one side I always thought we were in the game.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t get going today and that was largely down to a good Sri Lankan bowling attack.”

They now face a crucial game against Namibia – both teams have lost to Sri Lanka and beaten the Netherlands so far.

The winner of Friday’s clash between the two sides will progress to the Super 12s to meet New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the highest-ranked side in Group B (currently Scotland).

“We are excited, they are the games you want to play in when you grow up watching cricket and see the knock-out games. They are the ones we want to be part of, so we will rest up and be ready,” Balbirnie added.

“We started the week really well and put in some really good performances against the Dutch. We knew if we lost that game, we would be playing catch up.

“This is a good Sri Lanka team, I thought they batted and bowled really well. We started well with the ball and finished well with the ball but we could not really get it going with the bat.

“We have a massive game on Friday now and it is all to play for.”

Ireland will play Namibia in their final match in Group A on Friday morning at 11 am. Sky Sports will begin their coverage of the match in Ireland and the United Kingdom at 10:30 am.

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Ireland are currently competing in the group stage of the competition, in which the top two teams from both groups will enter the Super 12 with those teams that had already qualified.

The loss to Sri Lanka on Wednesday means that Ireland must beat Namibia if they are to be part of the Super 12 after the African nation beat the Netherlands on the same day.

The winner will progress to the next round to meet New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the highest-ranked side in Group B (currently Scotland).

At a press conference last night, Head Coach Graham Ford said: “I think for us, we come to the tournament with a slightly different view to some of the bugger countries, in that we are gaining and learning with every single outing – trying to make as much progress in our cricket as possible.

“So, every game is important as far as that is concerned – to try and make those little improvements here and there and to sharpen our skills, and adapt to the extra pace in the pitches.

“Win or lose, we are gaining and we are learning, so that’s a big plus for us – but quite obviously we are desperate to go through to the next phase of the tournament as well.

“Despite the loss [yesterday] we are still alive and still in the competition, and that’s the important thing.”

Captain Andrew Balbirnie also spoke on the 70-run defeat to Sri Lanka and noted that the team will have to adapt if they want to play top-level cricket on a consistent basis.

The captain said: “We don’t get wickets like this, or get pace like this too often back home, but the more we go up the levels and if we go through to next week it’s only going to get quicker and we need to find ways to cope with that pretty quickly.”

Ireland face Namibia in a ‘winner-takes-all’ clash at 11 am on Friday, October 22 – the match coverage in Ireland/UK is on Sky Sports from 10.30 am.

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Both sides won their first games in Group A and will be aiming to continue their strong starts and put one foot into the Super 12.

Ireland dismantled the Netherlands courtesy of some fantastic bowling – Curtis Campher took four wickets in four balls and the ever-consistent Mark Adair got three of his own.

The target of 106 was light work for the Irish as they surpassed it with 29 balls left to win their first match of this year’s T20 World Cup.

At a press conference on Monday night, Head Coach Graham Ford said: “On Sri Lanka, probably about half the squad I know pretty well, and the coach I know very well.

“We know they are going to be a very competitive and energetic unit – they have had previous successes in this format in previous years and previous T20 World Cups.

“So, it will be a huge game for us, but I think it will be a really exciting challenge – we’ll focus on going out and really enjoying this opportunity.”

Sri Lanka did not even need 75% of their overs to be victorious over Namibia in their first game.

The Namibians managed only 96 runs in the T20 World Cup debut before the tenth wicket in the final over.

The 2014 T20 World Champions reached triple digits after 13.3 overs to end the match early.

Maheesh Theekshana led the team with three wickets while Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Avishka Fernando went unbeaten at-bat to seal the win.

“They have a special group – and have some players that can do some unorthodox stuff – but our lads have a lot of information on them, and at the end of the day, it will be all about how we play on the day.

“We pitched up against the Netherlands with a real positive energy and commitment, and if we bring that again on Wednesday then we give ourselves a good chance.”

Squads

Sri Lanka: Dasun Shanaka (C), Charith Asalanka, Dinesh Chandimal, Wanindu Hasaranga, Avishka Fernando, Chamika Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Dushmantha Chameera, Akila Dananjaya, Dhananjaya De Silva, Binura Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Kusal Perera, Maheesh Theekshana.

Ireland: Andrew Balbirnie (C), Mark Adair, Gareth Delany, Joshua Little, Kevin O’Brien, Simi Singh, Harry Tector, Benjamin White, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Andy McBrine, Neil Rock, Paul Stirling, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.

Where To Watch

The match will start at 3 pm and will be available to watch on Sky Sports Main Event and Sky Sports Cricket – coverage begins at 2:30 pm.

You can keep track of the live score on the ICC website and Cricket Ireland will provide Twitter updates throughout the match.

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The fixtures were officially announced by the Emirates Cricket Board this morning as part of the ‘DafaNews Summer T20 Blast’ – a series of fixtures between 5-10 October also involving UAE, Scotland, Namibia and Papua New Guinea.

Warm-up matches against Papua New Guinea and Bangladesh are also set to be played on October 12 and October 14 respectively.

The side’s T20I World Cup campaign is set to begin on October 18 against the Netherlands.

They most recently played a three-game One Day International series with Zimbabwe earlier this month.

Graham Ford and his squad will leave for the UAE tomorrow and will undertake a mandatory six-day hotel quarantine before being able to begin training.

A preliminary 18-player squad was recently announced – this will be reduced to 15 for the T20 World Cup tournament.

However, the three other players will still travel to the UAE as reserves.

Squad

Andrew Balbirnie (c), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Shane Getkate, Graham Kennedy, Josh Little, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Kevin O’Brien, Neil Rock, Simi Singh, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Ben White, Craig Young.

Fixtures

Pre-T20 World Cup – preparation period

• 5 October 2021: Ireland v Scotland – warm-up match (ICC Academy Oval 2; start 9am local time)
• 7 October 2021: Ireland v UAE – 1st T20I (ICC Academy Oval 1; start 9am local time)
• 8 October 2021: Ireland v UAE – 2nd T20I (ICC Academy Oval 1; start 9am local time)
• 10 October 2021: Ireland v UAE – 3rd T20I (ICC Academy Oval 1; start 9am local time)

Official T20 World Cup warm-up matches

• 12 October 2021: Ireland v Papua New Guinea – warm-up T20I (Abu Dhabi; start 2pm local time)
• 14 October 2021: Ireland v Bangladesh – warm-up T20I (Abu Dhabi; start 6pm local time)

T20 World Cup – Round 1

• 18 October 2021: Ireland v Netherlands (Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi; starts 10am GMT)
• 20 October 2021: Ireland v Sri Lanka (Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi; starts 2pm GMT)
• 22 October 2021: Ireland v Namibia (Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah; starts 10am GMT)

The post Ireland Confirm Warm-Up Games Before World Cup In October appeared first on SportsNewsIreland.

The 21-year-old never dropped his lead and was 10 points ahead at one point in the game.

Nguyen started strong with his energy clearly shining through his bright start but his opponent pegged him back within reach every time the Team Ireland Olympian tried to run away with it.

A tight first set offered a test for the Dubliner but Nguyen maintained the numerical advantage throughout.

Karunaratne was determined and gave the Vietnamese-born Irishman a big challenge but the 21-year-old was able to pull away in the final third and set up five potential game points to give himself some breathing room.

He only needed two of those, taking the set courtesy of a mistake from the Sri Lankan.

There were some magnificent rallies throughout the game, most notably two rallies at the beginning of the second set, with varying results.

However, Karunaratne could not sustain the pressure he put on Nguyen in spells.

Nguyen, a first-time Olympian, looked impressive against the experienced Karunaratne, who never took the lead throughout the game.

Karunaratne struggled after dipping the first set to the Irish star and the competitive nature of the game slipped away as Nguyen imposed his dominance in the tie.

The combined fourteen possible game points, nine of those match points, is a clear example of the dominant affair the match turned out to be.

Nguyen dropped four of those points with three match points dropped but held on to win in two sets.

The 2-0 win secured a first Olympic victory for the Badminton prospect in his first Olympic match.

Nguyen will now face Chinese Taipei’s Tzu-Wei Wang with a win against the Asian enough to confirm a spot in the last 16 for the young prospect.

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