(Cricket news) Cricket Ireland today unveiled its brand new T20 playing shirt for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Exchange22 was announced as its ‘Primary Sponsor of the Men’s Senior International Team’ at the upcoming tournament.
EXCHANGE22 is an Indian-based, first of its kind sports fantasy App – a virtual sports stock exchange. Founded in 2019, the app’s never seen before concept is one in which players' shares are traded virtually. The shares can be traded as per the wish of the user. On their platform, the user can trade in single or multiple shares and receive returns easily.
The partnership, brokered by Cricket Ireland’s main sponsor ITW Consulting, was announced at a virtual press conference today that featured Ireland Men’s captain Andrew Balbirnie and Kevin O’Brien.
The Exchange22 logo will feature on the leading arm of the Ireland Men’s T20 World Cup playing shirt and on the front of the training kit while at the tournament.
Bodhishatta Karfa, Director & Co-Founder of EXCHANGE22, said “The whole team at EXCHANGE22 feels highly honoured to be the sponsor of Ireland at the Men's T20 World Cup 2021. It's quite joyful to state that the performance shown by the Ireland team in the recent past is appreciable and clearly reflects their commitment to the game. In the same way, EXCHANGE22 also believes in serving its users with full dedication, and it is this sincere approach that makes EXCHANGE22 and Ireland a splendid combination.”
“Also, our sincere gratitude to team ITW for putting their efforts into making this collaboration successful. We believe in uplifting the spirit of the game and look forward to many more collaborations of this kind in the near future. We wish the Irish team the best of luck for their performance and hope to see some awesome cricket moments from them.”
Bhairav Shanth, Co-founder, ITW Consulting Pvt. Ltd. said “We have always believed in global cricket’s tremendous potential beyond the major cricket playing countries and it’s reflected in our fruitful partnership with Cricket Ireland that kicked off in 2020. It’s a thrill to see EXCHANGE22 join Cricket Ireland as a sponsor on the jersey of one of the most exciting teams in the T20 World Cup. I am looking forward to this exciting journey through this association.”
Warren Deutrom, Chief Executive of Cricket Ireland, said “A sincere thank you to the teams at EXCHANGE22 and ITW Consulting for bringing this partnership together ahead of such an important tournament. The value of partnerships like this one goes far beyond just the immediate support for the team, but helps Cricket Ireland support the grassroots and performance structures that underpin the sport across Ireland – in turn creating the next generation of Irish internationals.”
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T20 WORLD CUP – THE BACKGROUND
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: Ireland v Netherlands (Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi; starts 10am GMT)
20 October: Ireland v Sri Lanka (Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi; starts 2pm GMT)
22 October: Ireland v Namibia (Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Sharjah; starts 10am GMT)
The top two teams from Round 1 go into the Group Stage. Details about the tournament, Group Stage fixtures and venues can be found here: https://www.t20worldcup.com/
THE SQUAD
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.
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.
Head Coach: Graham Ford