AJMAN, UAE – Ireland Women will make their first appearance in the ICC Women’s Emerging Nations Trophy when they take on Sri Lanka in the United Arab Emirates this week.
The 10-team tournament will be played in the UAE between 12-25 November 2026. This is the first year of the newly-expanded Emerging Nations Trophy. The previous iteration – won by Thailand – involved Associate teams only, however, the new format now sees five Full Members and five Associates competing.
The teams in the 2026 tournament are:
- Group A: Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Scotland and UAE
- Group B: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Netherlands and Thailand
All-rounder Orla Prendergast will miss the tournament as she continues to play in the Women’s Big Bash League in Australia (read more). Lara Maritz makes a return to the Ireland squad for the first time since 2021, while Laura Delany makes her first appearance since playing in the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup Qualifiers in Nepal last February.
There are call ups, too, for former Ireland Under-19s players Abbi Harrison and Zara Craig. Kia McCartney is also included and would add to her five ODI caps should she be selected to play in the upcoming T20Is.
The squad arrived in Dubai over the weekend and have a two-day camp at The Sevens, Dubai, where the focus will be on acclimatising to the heat and getting back to cricket outdoors before traveling to Ajman ahead of the first game on Thursday.
Wicketkeeper-batter, Amy Hunter, who will step into the vice-captain role for this tournament, said:
“I can’t wait to get going again in T20 cricket. We’ve had a bit of a break from it now, since the World Cup in June. It felt like we played a lot of it in the run up to that tournament but afterwards, we had a pretty heavy One-Day cricket summer, so it will be good to get going again. We had a big win against the West Indies in that last game of the World Cup, so hopefully we can carry that momentum into the Emerging Nations.”
The ICC Women’s Emerging Nations Trophy represents a rare opportunity to play tournament cricket without the jeopardy of qualifying for a World Cup attached.
“This tournament is very important for us. Bilateral cricket is great, but nothing replicates tournament cricket and the more of that we can play, the better. We have a slightly different team going which is exciting because it will provide opportunities for players that might have been in the eleven but will be given slightly bigger roles in this tournament, and for players that are new to touring, it’s a good opportunity for them.”
In the absence of Orla Prendergast, Hunter has been named vice-captain for the tournament. It’s not something that she was aiming for, but she’s looking forward to the opportunities it presents:
“It’s really exciting to be named vice-captain of the team. To be honest, it wasn’t really something that was on my radar but I have done a bit of captaincy in the past with the Ireland U19s and the Dragons in the Evoke Super Series and I’ve really enjoyed that. I love thinking about the game so it’s a really exciting opportunity and I’ll just be trying to help Gaby out as much as I can on the pitch and try to develop my leadership as much as I can, too.”
It’s Ireland’s first time in the tournament, but Hunter says that the team’s goals don’t change:
“It is a relatively inexperienced squad but that presents some pretty cool opportunities. I think to be able to call on the likes of Laura Delany and Lara Maritz into the team, it demonstrates the depth that we have. We also have some possible debutantes as well. So it just presents opportunities to different players to perform under pressure and really put their hands up in future to get their name on the shirt. In terms of goals, I don’t think that really ever changes for us as a team. Every game we go into, we look to compete as best we can and ultimately win, so that will still be our goal for this tournament.“
SQUAD
- Gaby Lewis (c)
- Amy Hunter (vc)
- Zara Craig
- Alana Dalzell
- Laura Delany
- Georgina Dempsey
- Abbi Harrison
- Louise Little
- Aimee Maguire
- Jane Maguire
- Lara Maritz
- Lara McBride
- Kia McCartney
- Cara Murray
FIXTURES
Group Stage:
- 12 November: Ireland Women v Sri Lanka – T20I (5am GMT)
- 13 November: Ireland Women v UAE – T20I (9.15am GMT)
- 16 November: Ireland Women v PNG – T20I (9.15am GMT)
- 18 November: Ireland Women v Scotland – T20I (5am GMT)
* All times shown are local Irish time
The Finals Stage:
- 20 November: Super Sixes
- 22 November: Super Sixes
- 23 November: Super Sixes
- 25 November: Final
