The end of a long season is almost nigh for Ireland Women’s cricket team and they are looking to finish on a high with promotion to the ECB County Championship Division Two this Sunday.
Their opposition will be a familiar one: The Netherlands find themselves at the bottom of Division Two having struggled with the weather this summer.
Denise Hannema’s young side finished second from bottom which meant a play-off with bottom placed Durham. The Dutch team, however, were unable to get a flight to England and were forced to forfeit that game and go into a relegation battle with Ireland.
The Irish girls have not lost in the County Championships this season but a packed playing schedule means they are carrying some injuries. Captain Isobel Joyce missed the last game of Ireland’s Twenty20 series with Pakistan and Bangladesh with a foot injury and Laura Delany has had some trouble with her knee. Eimear Richardson is also missing as she returns to New Zealand for work reasons and no doubt her accurate off-spin and
powerful hitting will be missed.
Speaking ahead of the game Joyce said, “Eimear is a big loss to the team of course, she has been one of our best bowlers for a number of years now and she also has the ability to hit a big ball. She has only played one County Championship game for us this year, though, so we are used to playing without her at this stage.
“A number of our younger players have stepped forward in this competition in 2012 and I am confident we will gain promotion. Clare Shillington is in top form with the bat and Kim Garth and Louise McCarthy have both been in the wickets in the last few weeks, both taking four wickets in matches against Bangladesh recently, while Laura Delany took three wickets in our last match in the competition against Gloucestershire.
“But you can never take things for granted against The Netherlands as we learned last year when we took a developmental team to the Euros and lost both the One-day and Twenty20 European cup to them. They are an ambitious team and fought hard to get into Division Two, so they won’t give up their spot without a fight.”
Ireland take on The Netherlands at East Grimstead on Sunday 9th. Play is due to start at 10am.
Ireland Women are looking to cap a successful season
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