Thailand to play against Scotland, Ireland and the Netherlands

Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland, KNCB and the Cricket Association of Thailand have announced a quadrangular T20I tournament to take place in August 2019.



This quadrangular tournament will be an ideal preparation for these sides ahead of ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Global Qualifier starting on 31 August in Scotland.



The tournament, to be played in Netherlands, will see each of the four sides play six T20 matches in seven days, from 8 to 14 August 2019, at Salland Cricket Club in Deventer.



By virtue of their 10th place finishe at the 2018 Women’s World T20 final, Ireland have already confirmed participation in the Global Qualifiers. Thailand, by virtue of their clean sweep of the ICC Women’s Qualifier – Asia 2019, will also be there.



Later in June European qualifiers will take place featuring Spain, the Netherlands and Scotland. But as Scotland have already qualified as hosts, the Spain and the Netherlands will fancy their chances to join Bangladesh, Ireland, Thailand, Zimbabwe, Papua New Guinea and United States of America who have already qualified.



From the Global Qualifiers two teams will progress to the T20 World Cup in Australia in February 2020.

Match Schedule

8 August: 11.00am Netherlands v Ireland; 3.30pm Scotland v Thailand

9 August: 11.00am Netherlands vs Scotland; 3.30pm Ireland vs Thailand

10 August: 11.00am Thailand vs Netherlands; 3.30pm Scotland vs Ireland

11 August: Rest day

12 August: 11.00am Thailand vs Scotland; 3.30pm Ireland vs Netherlands

13 August: 11.00am Thailand vs Ireland; 3.30pm Scotland vs Netherlands

14 August: 10.00am Ireland vs Scotland; 2.00pm Netherlands vs Thailand

 

Quotes from Head Coaches

 Aaron Hamilton, Head Coach of Ireland Women’s cricket team, said:

“2019 is a big year for women’s cricket in Ireland and we want to provide our squad with the best opportunity to qualify for the T20 Women’s World Cup. As such, this new tournament is timely and competitiveness of the four teams involved will definitely help with our preparations. With a home series just completed against the West Indies, and a Zimbabwe series to come, the Irish squad will definitely benefit from the volume of international fixtures throughout the summer.”

“We’re early into the new home season, but we’ve already seen some great performances by senior players in the squad like Kim Garth and Mary Waldron, while we’ve also had the opportunity to bring through some emerging players into the international set-up. Qualification for the World Cup in 2020 remains the goal and we will be working hard to achieve that over the coming months.”

 

Steven Knox, Head Coach of Scotland Women’s cricket team, said:

“It's great to have the opportunity to play six T20I’s against teams close to us in the world rankings as preparation for the T20 Global Qualifier that we are hosting in late August/early September in Scotland. I'm delighted that the Cricket Scotland board have committed to the Scotland Women's team participating in this Quadrangular tournament in the Netherlands where conditions will be similar to those we'll experience a few weeks later in Scotland. As coach I believe it's the next step in the team's evolution from a predominantly UK-based pseudo English county team to a fully-fledged international team.”

“Six games in seven days will be a tough challenge and will allow us to clarify game plans and strategies that we can use in the Global Qualifier as we look to challenge for a place in the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia. With a guaranteed 15 T20I’s to play over the course of the next three months there's never been a more exciting time to be a Wildcat.”

 

Sean Trouw, Head Coach of KNCB Women’s cricket team, said:

“The series is a great opportunity for the Dutch women’s team to play more competitive cricket and for us to be playing at home is a great chance to show what women’s cricket is all about. This series will be a great opportunity to grow the game locally and hopefully inspire a few more girls to take up the game. Working together with Cricket Ireland, Cricket Scotland and Thailand Cricket Association to make this happen has been amazing. This is a great initiative for the women’s game and is a real boost to our cricket calendar for this year. If all goes well this series will set us in good stead for the global T20 qualifier to be held in Scotland at the end of August.”

 

Harshal J Pathak, Head Coach of Thailand Women’s cricket team, said:

“The quadrangular series is timed very well as it gives us valuable tournament matches before the World Cup Qualifiers. I am very sure that the players will benefit a lot to acclimatise, and be better prepared with their game for the World Cup Qualifier.”