Cricket Belgium have announced three T20I bilateral series for April and May. Belgium will host Malta, Romania, and Austria as preparation for the T20 World Cup qualifiers in July.
Belgium will play 4 T20Is against Malta on the 17th and 18th of April at the Royal Brussels Cricket Ground. The series will be followed a week later by 3 T20Is against Romania in Antwerp. Austria will visit Belgium on the 15th and 16th May, with 3 T20Is played at Brussels.
The three series will serve as crucial preparations for all four nations ahead of the European T20 World Cup qualifiers later in the year. Malta will travel to Finland in July to play in regional group B. At the same time, Belgium will host regional group C, also featuring Romania and Austria.
Belgium, ranked 47th last played in August 2020 when they won all their matches at the Luxembourg T20I Trophy. Malta (69th) and Romania (41st) were last in action in Bulgaria in September and October 2020, respectively. Malta won their series 2-0, whilst Romania took a 3-1 series victory in their visit. Austria, 39th, have not played an international since winning the 2019 Continental Cup.
Speaking to Emerging Cricket, Belgium head coach Corey Rutgers said:
“Obviously [we’re] very excited to have three bilateral series coming on in the next three months, with Malta, Romania and Austria touring us. Also very thankful to have three teams touring in such a tricky period in the world. On a personal level, I’m very excited as well because we organised such a big programme last year and a lot of it had fallen to pieces.
“It’s going to be prep for our ICC qualifiers. Hosting ten games in Belgium is probably the perfect prep to then host 7 games [the qualifiers] in Belgium.”
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