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An official men’s tour to Pakistan in August and September of next year has been announced by Cricket Ireland. The three T20Is and three ODIs that Ireland and Pakistan will play in this series are a part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP), which is slated to begin in September 2025.
Dates, locations, and any other tour schedule details are not specifically included in the release. It comes after Ireland’s women’s tour of Pakistan in November 2022, during which they also played three Twenty20 Internationals and one One Test.
Following a meeting between Brain MacNeice, chair of Cricket Ireland, and PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, a decision was made. When the PCB first released a statement, it seemed to indicate that Ireland would play a Test series in Pakistan apart from the original schedule, one that was not part of the FTP.
“Chairman Cricket Ireland said that the Irish team would visit Pakistan next year in August-September for a Test series and would also review the possibility of a women’s team tour to Pakistan soon,” the PCB statement said.
Hours after the PCB release, Cricket Ireland put out an official statement on their own website relating to Naqvi’s meeting with MacNeice. In “wide ranging discussions”, it merely confirmed that the two boards “were able to agree a men’s tour next year – this will be yet another historic first, coming after the tour to Pakistan by our senior women in 2022.”