7th May marked a day full of exciting news for Cricket Ireland.
First-Ever Part-Time Contracts
The governing body unveiled the recipients of the first-ever part-time professional contracts for women cricketers in Ireland. The recipients of the six contracts are Laura Delany, Kim Garth, Mary Waldron, Shauna Kavanagh, Gaby Lewis and Celeste Raack. Speaking about the contracts, Richard Holdsworth, Cricket Ireland Performance Director, explained “to have these players more available to practice, train and access the world-class support we have both from Cricket Ireland and the Sport Ireland Institute will give them all a great opportunity to improve and give ourselves the best chance of T20 World Cup Qualification, and further down the line an opportunity to be promoted to the ICC Women’s Championship.”
Beth Healy, Team Operations Manager
Along with the six part-time players contracts, Beth Healy was announced as the new part-time Team Operations Manager for the Ireland Women’s cricket team. Healy is an Events Manager with Pioneer Group, specialising in sports event management and consultancy. She has gained extensive experience in delivering successful and significant sporting events across the UK and Ireland, and was most recently Games Team Manager for the Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games Council (NICGC) for the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018. She will continue to work part-time with Pioneer Group, while taking on the new role with the Ireland Women’s team, and will work under Head Coach Aaron Hamilton in the international squad structure.
Squad Announcements and Upcoming Fixtures
The announcement of the 13-player squad for the upcoming Ireland v West Indies Women’s T20 International series in late May rounded out the day of news for Cricket Ireland. Number 10 ranked Ireland will meet fourth in the world West Indies for three matches in late May. The squad for the series is Laura Delany (Captain), Kim Garth, Shauna Kavanagh, Gaby Lewis, Louise Little, Sophie MacMahon, Lara Maritz, Naomi Matthews, Leah Paul, Celeste Raack, Una Raymond-Hoey, Rebecca Stokell and Mary Waldron.
The match dates and locations are as follows:
- 26 May 2019 at YMCA Cricket Club in Dublin
- 28 May 2019 at Pembroke Cricket Club in Dublin
- 29 May 2019 at Pembroke Cricket Club in Dublin
All the matches are free entry and details regarding livestreaming of home fixture T20I matches will be announced shortly.
Other confirmed fixtures on the 2019 calendar are:
- 3 July: Ireland Women v Zimbabwe Women (Oak Hill); 50-over
- 5 July: Ireland Women v Zimbabwe Women (Oak Hill); 50-over
- 7 July: Ireland Women v Zimbabwe Women (Oak Hill); 50-over
- 10 July: Ireland Women v Zimbabwe Women (Stormont); T20I*
- 12 July: Ireland Women v Zimbabwe Women (Bready CC); T20I*
- 14 July: Ireland Women v Zimbabwe Women (Bready CC); T20I*
* Matches will form part of three double-header events in conjunction with Ireland Men and Zimbabwe Men