On 9th August 2021, Cricket Ireland announced their 14-player squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup European Qualifier to be held at the La Manga Club in Spain between 26th– 31st August. The team will be captained by Laura Delany who recently surpassed Isobel Joyce for captaining most matches for the Ireland Women’s team. Earlier in this year’s summer, the Irish women successfully completed two home series and won against Scotland and Netherlands. They have been ranked 10th in the world in T20 cricket.
There will be six participating countries in the European Qualifiers namely Scotland, Netherlands, Germany, France, Turkey, and Ireland.
The tournament will be played in the round-robin format and the overall winner will progress into the 2022 ICC Women’s World T20 Global Qualifiers.
The selectors of the team admitted that the selection process posed a pleasing challenge this year in comparison to the previous year due to an increase in candidates. There were several players who missed their chance but hard work and commitment never go unnoticed. They will once again push for selection in future opportunities.
Chairman of National Women’s Selectors Carrie Archer said, “Although this is a relatively young squad, we not only have all bases covered, but we have a squad with both batting and bowling depth. That depth will be crucially important in this incredibly important and intense tournament. Providing Head Coach Ed Joyce and captain Laura Delany with options was our main goal.”
Head Coach Ed Joyce commented, “With only one side going through from here, it will be a challenging week-but what’s definitely pleasing for me is that I was confident no matter which 14 players were selected, will be taking a talented, eager and hungry group to Spain that are capable of competing on all fronts.”
Ireland Squad for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup European Qualifier 2021:
Laura Delany (Captain), Ava Canning, Georgina Dempsey, Shauna Kavanagh, Gaby Lewis, Louise Little, Sophie MacMahon, Lara Maritz, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Elimear Richardson, Rebecca Stokell and Mary Waldron.
Loves all things female cricket