The Ireland Women’s cricket team have impressed today with an eight-wicket win over Papua New Guinea Women in a warm-up ahead of the ICC Women’s World T20 Qualifier tournament in Netherlands.
Ireland Captain Laura Delany won the toss and sent Papua New Guinea in to bat first.
Good line and length bowling saw Ireland restrict their opponents to 106-4 from 20 overs. Lucy O’Reilly, on her return to the national side, claimed two wickets, while Delany and Eimear Richardson took one apiece.
In response, Ireland lost opener Cecelia Joyce early (3) but Clare Shillington (37) and in-form Gaby Lewis (56*) took hold of the attack and blasted their way towards victory. Indeed when the winning runs were struck, Ireland still had more than 8 overs to spare.
This is the third international side Gaby Lewis has registered a T20 half-century against in the last month – against New Zealand (61), Bangladesh (50) and now Papua New Guinea. The 17-year old was named in the ICC Women’s Global Development Squad in May (story link) and goes into the Qualifier tournament full of confidence.
Image: The team celebrates another wicket
Scorecard
See the full match scorecard here.
Gaby Lewis hit her third half-century in a month
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Connaught
