Photo Credit: Oisin Keniry
Ireland Women’s captain Laura Delany said today that her squad is determined to use yesterday’s loss to the West Indies as a spur to their qualifying campaign ahead of tomorrow’s crucial match against the Netherlands in the ICC Women’s World Cup Global Qualifier.
Despite an impressive start to the match yesterday, Ireland eventually succumbed to the Caribbean side by 6 wickets, however, fought all the way demonstrating a never-say-die approach to their game.
Speaking from the team hotel, Delany said:
“Gaby [Lewis] and Leah [Paul] started off well yesterday, which is pleasing to see their good form continue on from the Zimbabwe tour from last month. They put on some great partnerships during that series, and have batted well together at the Super series level over the last two years. It’s great to see that translate into international performances at this level, and I hope they continue to cement their roles in the team as our opening pair in this format.
“After the opening stand, we then lost a few wickets in quick succession. As a batting unit we know that we are capable of a lot more and, hopefully, we will display this over the next few days.
“I was delighted to have Eimear [Richardson] back in the side after she missed last month’s tour – she’s a very skilled player, and has a lot of experience, so it’s great to have her back around the group.
“Our bowling attack bowled well in the middle period, but we didn’t take early wickets in order to build pressure, and Deandra Dottin played incredibly well. We just didn’t have enough runs on the board, but I was pleased with how the bowlers acquitted themselves and how we took it into the 40th over.
“I said yesterday after the match, we know we haven’t played our best cricket yet, and there are two matches still to go, so we’re looking ahead to Netherlands tomorrow and Sri Lanka on Monday to show what we can do.”
All fixtures in the Qualifier tournament will be livestreamed through www.icc.tv.
THE ICC WOMEN’S WORLD CUP GLOBAL QUALIFIER
Ireland Women’s squad
:
Laura Delany (captain), Georgina Dempsey, Amy Hunter, Shauna Kavanagh, Gaby Lewis, Louise Little, Sophie MacMahon, Jane Maguire, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Celeste Raack, Eimear Richardson, Rebecca Stokell, Mary Waldron. Head coach: Ed Joyce.
In addition, as part of Covid-19 protocols, the following players have been named as reserves:
• Travelling reserve: Sarah Forbes
• Non-travelling reserves: Alana Dalzell and Kate McEvoy
The Fixtures
The schedule was recently announced for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Global Qualifier, with an official warm-up match against Pakistan. In addition, Cricket Ireland has arranged a further warm-up match against Thailand.
For the tournament proper, nine teams will compete for three places at the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup, set to be held in New Zealand (the tenth team, Papua New Guinea, withdrew this week and will not be replaced in the draw).
The Qualifier groups are:
• Group A: West Indies, Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands
• Group B: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Zimbabwe, USA
As a consequence of the Papua New Guinea withdrawal, the playing schedule has been amended from previous advice. Ireland Women’s playing schedule is:
• 16 November: Ireland Women v Thailand Women (warm-up match, Old Georgians Sports Club; start 9.30am)
• 19 November: Ireland Women v Pakistan Women (warm-up match, Harare Sports Club; start 9.30am)
• 23 November: Ireland Women v West Indies Women (World Cup Qualifier Match 1, Old Hararians Sports Club; start 9.30am)
• 25 November: Ireland Women v Netherlands Women (World Cup Qualifier Match 2, Old Hararians Sports Club; start 9.30am)
• 29 November: Ireland Women v Sri Lanka Women (World Cup Qualifier Match 3, Sunrise Cricket Club; start 9.30am)
* All times referenced are local to Zimbabwe
The top three teams from each group go to the Super 6 stage, with group stage points carrying over to the next phase. From there, the top three after the Super 6 stage will qualify for the Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 being held in New Zealand next year, along with the hosts, Australia, England, South Africa and India, who have directly qualified for the event.
As a bonus, the top five teams will also qualify for the next edition of the ICC Women’s Championship, which is expanding from eight teams to 10.
The ICC will livestream the matches on ICC.tv, as well as livescoring and providing a range of digital content.
If successful, this will be the first time that Ireland Women have played in a 50-over Cricket World Cup since 2005.
