With international cricket returning to Pakistan, it now is Ireland that’ll be hosted by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for the first time later this year. The 6-match white-ball series on schedule will see the sides contest over 3 One-Day Internationals (ODI’s) and 3 Twenty20 Internationals (T20I’s) at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
The 3-match ODI series is a part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2022-25 and the series is the 2nd for both sides, Pakistan and Ireland. While, results from their 1st series see Pakistan with a 2-1 series win against Sri Lanka with 4 points to their name and Ireland having lost their series, 0-3 to South Africa, are yet to get their first points on the board.
Pakistan skipper, Bismah Maroof on the series announcement said, “We are all up for an exciting series against Ireland. The series will help us in attracting new fans to the women’s game. The series will provide an opportunity for young cricketers to upskill themselves as per the demands of international cricket. We are eager to perform in front of our home crowd and win crucial ICC Women’s Championship points as qualifying directly for the next ODI World Cup is one of our main targets.”
Pakistan’s head of women’s cricket, Tania Mallick, on the series announcement said, “We had a great experience of hosting Sri Lanka earlier this year in Karachi and are now excited to host Ireland here at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. This is just a beginning of a new era in women’s cricket, after hosting Ireland we are looking forward to organizing the women’s league soon. We want fans to come to the ground and support women’s cricket for what promises to be an exciting six days of cricket in Lahore.”
Ireland are set to arrive in Pakistan on the 29th of October for the series that gets underway with the ODI’s which are scheduled to be played on the 4th, 6th and 9th of November and will be followed by the T20’s on the 12th, 14th and 16th of the same month. The series will serve as a good build-up for Pakistan heading into South Africa where they next play in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup event that’s scheduled for early next year.
Pakistan in the ongoing 8th edition of the Women’s T20 Asia Cup have displayed a string of consistent performances which had them comfortably make it to the Semi-Final, but it just was on the big day that the side lost in a thrilling chase by a run which got their fruitful campaign to an agonizing end.
Pakistan got their campaign at the Asia Cup underway with back-to-back 9-wicket wins against Malaysia and Bangladesh. The side then suffered a stunning 4-wicket defeat to Thailand, but in a high-pressure, very next game against India, registered a morale-boosting 13-run win. Pakistan carried on their momentum and put on an unbeaten hat-trick of wins streak following wins against the United Arab Emirates by 71 runs and against Sri Lanka by 5 wickets. The side against Sri Lanka in the Semi-Final, lost by a run and return home with lessons for future assignments, yet again.
Visitors, Ireland too have played some good brand of cricket in their most recent outings, in the recently concluded ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifier in the United Arab Emirates, the side made it to the Finals, but it was on the big day that they lost to Bangladesh. So, a clash of two in-form teams on Pakistani soil is what we’ll be presented with and for that surely is a must-watch.
Schedule: Ireland Women’s tour of Pakistan 2022
29 October – Ireland team arrives in Lahore
31 October – 3 November – Training
4 November – First ODI
6 November – Second ODI
9 November – Third ODI
12 November – First T20I
14 November – Second T20I
16 November – Third T20I