Ireland Women Confirm 7 Match Series against SA
IRELAND WOMEN have confirmed a seven match series against South Africa later this summer.
The "Girls in Green" will play four one-day internationals followed by three T20 internationals against the side currently sixth in the world rankings.
Cricket Ireland Head Coach Aaron Hamilton welcomed the news of the series saying: "It's a great opportunity for us to have this seven-match international series at home against South Africa. This is the competitive cricket we need on a regular basis to be able to compete with the top teams in the world."
"These matches will be another chance for our players to apply their trade at home in front of supporters and younger girls looking to aspire to play for Ireland in the future. This series will continue to build the increasing profile of the women's game in Ireland."
It's shaping up to be one of the busiest years ever for the Irish women, who will be playing in their second ICC World Twenty20 in India this March, and will also participate in a European World Cup Qualifying campaign against The Netherlands and Scotland.
With their increasing international commitments, Cricket Ireland has notified ECB that it will withdraw from the 2016 ECB County Championships.
Cricket Ireland Performance Director Richard Holdsworth explained the rationale behind the decision. "As we did with the men’s team some years back, Cricket Ireland has decided to focus our resources on the international stage for the team. We are in the process of expanding the international programme and this South Africa series is the first stage of that.
"There are further plans to both host and tour against other Full Members, and negotiations are at an advanced stage which hopefully will be concluded soon.
"We are most grateful to ECB for the opportunity to have played in the County Championships. You only have to look at our results in winning the recent ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers in Bangkok to show how important the games in England were in providing our younger players with a high standard of matches. While we won’t participate in this competition from 2016 onwards, ECB have kindly agreed to continue support for the Irish women’s and girls’ programmes which will prove very beneficial to our players’ development.
“We established a domestic Super 3’s competition last year which was a great success in showcasing the best players in the Irish women’s game in both 50 over and T20 formats. We plan to evolve that further in 2016, and will be announcing a new sponsor for the competition in due course.”
“We are also very grateful to Cricket South Africa who have committed to a significant tour of Ireland this summer which will raise the profile of the women’s game immensely”.
The ODI's against South Africa will take place on Sunday July 24, Tuesday July 26, Friday July 29 and Monday August 1.
The three T20I's will follow on Thursday August 4, Friday August 5, and Sunday August 7.
The venues for these fixtures will be confirmed in due course.