Ireland facing ‘big’ Test wait

Ireland may have to wait beyond 2018 to make their Test debut, chief executive Warren Deutrom has warned.

Ireland and Afghanistan were awarded full membership of the International Cricket Council (ICC) last week. The two were voted in unanimously to become the first newcomers since Bangladesh in 2000.

Ireland will now they will be able to play Test cricket against the world’s best but scheduling a first match may take some organising and Deutrom believes it may prove difficult to shoehorn in around the other nation’s full schedules.

Deutrom said: “It is somewhere between not wanting to wait years for our first Test match versus making sure we have the appropriate sense of occasion. “History would suggest new full members play their first Test, at home, against a big nation within a year but I know how much busier the full members are.”