Cricket Ireland unveils 15-member women’s squad for West Indies tour

Ireland will tour West Indies for a three-match ODI and as many T20I series commencing from June 26. Notably, all the matches on the tour will be held at Daren Sammy Cricket Ground in St Lucia and will be part of the ICC Women’s Championship that determines the qualification for the Women’s Cricket World Cup.

Cricket Ireland announced the 15-member squad for the white-ball series on Friday (June 9) and confirmed that Laura Delany will continue to lead the side. The board also revealed the departure time of the team.

“Laura Delany will captain the team, and the squad will depart for St Lucia on Wednesday June 21,” said Ireland Cricket in their press release.

It is worth mentioning that Laura has so far played 49 ODI matches for her country and amassed 869 runs. Meanwhile, the Irish captain has registered 983 runs in 89 T20I matches.

Speaking about the team combination to Cricket Ireland, the Ireland Women’s cricket team coach Ed Joyce informed that Aimee Maguire had got her maiden call-up in the national side, whereas all other players have got some experience and played a few matches in their career. He even talked about registering their first win in ICC Women’s Championship. However, Joyce confessed that it would not be an easy task for his team as they don’t often play this format.

“In terms of team selection, Aimee Maguire has come into the squad for her first tour. She’s a really exciting young left-arm spinner – it’s a role we are really trying to strengthen. The rest of the group have played and toured before, and despite the average age of the squad is still less than 24, there’s still plenty of experience within the group,” said Joyce.

“If we play well, we’re going to be really competitive, and we’re really hoping to get our first win in the ICC Women’s Championship. We’ve found that format of the game really tough, which is understandable considering we don’t play very much of it. But, we definitely have the tools to win out there. It’s just about whether we can put it all together on the day,” he added.

Ireland squad for West Indies tour:

Laura Delany (c), Ava Canning, Georgina Dempsey, Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Gaby Lewis, Louise Little, Sophie MacMahon, Aimee Maguire, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Eimear Richardson, Rebecca Stokell, Mary Waldron.

Ireland tour of West Indies 2023 ODI Fixtures:

• First ODI: June 26 at St Lucia, 7:00 PM (01:30 PM GMT / 09:30 AM LOCAL)
• Second ODI: June 28 at St Lucia, 7:00 PM (01:30 PM GMT / 09:30 AM LOCAL)
• Third ODI: July 1 at St Lucia, 7:00 PM (01:30 PM GMT / 09:30 AM LOCAL)

Ireland tour of West Indies 2023 T20I Fixtures:

• First T20I: July 4 at St Lucia, 11:30 PM (06:00 PM GMT / 02:00 AM LOCAL)
• Second T20I: July 6 at St Lucia, 11:30 PM (06:00 PM GMT / 02:00 AM LOCAL)
• Third T20I: July 8 at St Lucia, 11:30 PM (06:00 PM GMT / 02:00 AM LOCAL)

This article was first published at WomenCricket.com, a Cricket Times company.

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June 09, 2023 at 02:45PM