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Ireland Women head to Thailand for the ICC World T20 Qualifier on Friday. As the squad put the final touches to their preparations we caught up with captain Isobel Joyce to talk about the tournament itself.
Ireland Women head to Thailand for the ICC World T20 Qualifierr on Friday. As the squad put the final touches to their preparations we caught up with captain Isobel Joyce to talk about the tournament itself.
Having heard from Kim Garth about the training the squad have done in the lead up to departure, we asked Joyce about what the squad will be up to once they arrive in Thailand.

“We arrive in Thailand on Saturday, a week before the tournament starts, and we have two warm up games during that week and then training on the other four days.

“Those two warm up games against Scotland and Thailand will be somewhat of a luxury for us because we have never had such a long run in at a qualifier that wasn’t held in Ireland. It gives us a chance to get used to conditions and I think the opportunity to get a lot of fielding in will be invaluable to us after a few months of indoor training where it’s difficult to simulate outdoor conditions.”

The warm-up match against Scotland will give the side a good opportunity to acclimatise ahead of the opening match against the Netherlands, who Ireland have come up against a number of times recently.

“We will be familiar with them, but so it goes that they will be familiar with us too. We played The Netherlands in England last year and we beat them comprehensively but they also ran us very close in the last ICC WWT20 Qualifier when we were playing for the last available spot to go to the last World Cup in Bangladesh, so that will be in the back of our minds too.”

Other opponents in the group, China and Zimbabwe pose something of a different challenge though.

“We know absolutely nothing about the Chinese team so it will be very interesting to see what they’re like.

“Only the over 30s will remember playing against Zimbabwe – we played them a qualifying tournament in South Africa in 2007 – but I doubt those of us who were there can shed much light on their team now.”

Joyce and the squad aren’t worried heading into the games not knowing much about their opponents, especially in the shortest format of the game, taking the opportunity to focus the attention on themselves.

“I think it suits us to not know much about the opposition because then we can focus on our own game rather than the opposition.”

The squad have had a busy season on the T20 front and have had plenty of time to do just that, with the busy schedule helping prepare the side for the qualifiers.

“I believe in training specific, so focusing on T20 was definitely the way to go with the ECB champs and the Australia series.

“We played against some of the best English county teams and Australia are the World Champions, so our preparation couldn’t have been better really. The last few months have been about clarifying roles, adding a few more options in terms of shots and bowling variations.”

One of the notable quirks of the Ireland squad is the range of ages within the team, with some of the younger players less than half the age of those with more experience.

The youngsters are an important part of the squad however, and as anyone who has spent any time with the team will know how well the players and staff look out for each other, and there are no concerns about being away for a long period.

“We do have a number of younger players on the squad but the likes of Lucy O’Reilly and Kim Garth have been on plenty of longer tours at this stage and Gaby and Robyn Lewis have each other so I think they’ll be absolutely fine, that being said I’m sure our brilliant manager Sue O’Connor will have made the rooming lists so that anyone with a bit less experience is paired up with someone who can show them the ropes if needs be.”

Looking back towards the field we asked Joyce one of the most difficult questions you can ask a captain heading into any tournament – Who do you think will shine for Ireland in the qualifiers, and why?

“That’s a dangerous question. Often in T20, the players that shine are the ones that have the opportunity to.

“The great thing about our team is the diversity in the squad and that every player brings something different. I think the returning Ciara Metcalfe could be a huge asset to us with her controlled legspin. Her nickname is brains so she’s always got a plan.

“I’ve been really impressed with the strides Robyn Lewis has made with her left arm orthodox bowling and of course we have Kim Garth and Gaby Lewis fresh off winning Cricket Ireland awards.”

While there will no doubt be some brilliant individual performances during the tournament, Joyce was keen to point out that isn’t necessarily the focus.

“The hope is that we won’t have to rely on just a handful of players at this stage, everyone on the team should be able to do a job if called upon so I hope it will be a real squad performance.”

The squad leave for Thailand on Friday, with their first game of the tournament against the Netherlands on November 28th.

Ireland are in a group with China, Zimbabwe and the Netherlands- with the top two in the group progressing to the semi-final stage, with the two finalists making it through to the World T20 proper in India.

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