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Ireland Women clinched the European T20 Championships with two games to spare following a thumping nine wicket win over The Netherlands at Rugby today.
FULL FINAL SCORECARD
MATCH PHOTOS

A tight bowling display by the Irish attack saw them restrict their Dutch opponents to a modest 86 for 4 in their 20 overs, with only Miranada Veringmeier providing serious resistance, as she hit 52 from 42 balls (4 fours, 1 six.)

Teenager Lucy O’Reilly (2-14) was the most successful of the Irish attack, with Louise McCarthy 1-15) and Elena Tice (1-15) on her 50th appearance for Ireland the other wicket takers.

Cecelia Joyce (39*) and Clare Shillington (31) both struck four boundaries in an opening stand of 77 in just 56 balls to take Ireland to the brink of victory, before Shillington was stumped with just 10 needed.

Gaby Lewis (7*) – another teenage product of Ireland’s much vaunted youth system who was making her international debut today – hit the winning runs with 8.2 overs and 9 wickets to spare.

The tournament victory completes a memorable year for Irish cricket at European tournaments, winning all four events in which they’ve participated.

The ‘Grand Slam’ has seen the Under 17’s and 19’s both win their respective ICC Europe Challenge Series against Scotland and The Netherlands, while the Under 15’s were unbeaten as they won their tournament earlier this month, also at Rugby.

Ireland Women will be hoping to finish the tournament on a high as they play both The Netherlands and Scotland again tomorrow (SUN).

Speaking to www.cricketireland.ie following Ireland’s win, coach Trent Johnston won’t be letting his player celebrate just yet with focus now switching to Ireland’s upcoming clash with South Africa. He said: “It’s nice to have the championship wrapped up with two games to play. But we play the World T20 semi-finalist in just over three weeks, so I won’t let the girls take their foot off the gas. They know that they are playing for their spot in that team.”

Captaining the side today, Mary Waldron was happy with the performance from the Girls in Green: “It was another convincing win from us today; we did well with the ball to keep them to a low total and the girls batted superbly up top to see us home.”

It was a big day for 13 year old Gaby Lewis who earned her first cap today, Mary continued: “It was nice to see our debutant Gaby there at the end to see us home, as a group we still feel there are areas to improve and we’ve two more games to work on them tomorrow ahead of our South African series.”

Speaking to www.cricketireland.ie after seeing Ireland home alongside Cecelia Joyce, Lewis said: “It was great to continue our winning form in the tournament, and I really enjoyed my first cap for Ireland.”

ICC EUROPE WOMEN’S T20 CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Rugby FULL FINAL SCORECARD

NETHERLANDS 86/4 (20 overs, M Veringmeier 52, L O’Reilly 2-14, L McCarthy 1-15, E Tice 1-21)

IRELAND 87/1 (11.4 overs, C Joyce 39*, C Shillington 31)

Ireland won by 9 wickets and win the tournament

Watch video highlights from the earlier rounds here.

Ireland coach Trent Johnston reflects on the progress of the European Champions over the last 8 months:


[2463] Ireland v Netherlands – Sat 16 August – ireland-v-nethelands-sat-16-august
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