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DUBLIN – Ireland Women’s head coach Ed Joyce believes the heavy loss in the first one-day international against South Africa will have given his young side exposure at the top-level that will benefit the players in the longer term.
Joyce’s side – missing up to nine performance squad players due mainly to injury or unavailability as a result of school/college exams – collapsed in the first ODI on Saturday to be bowled out for 69, going on to suffer a nine-wicket defeat.

Reflecting on the match before training today, Joyce said:

“It was certainly a tough game. Our batters saw that bowlers at this level don’t give you much to hit and that we have to develop ways of scoring when conditions are tough and the bowling is that good. When you look back at the first innings, we gave away too many soft dismissals and we’ve spoken about the need to tighten up in this area.

“As a batting group, I think the players recognise that we need to be able to deal with high pace and consistent swing bowling at this level. Despite the result, I still believe the series is an excellent opportunity for our players to watch high quality cricketers in action and know where we need to get to.”

One player that came out of the loss on Saturday with perhaps her reputation enhanced was 17-year old YMCA all-rounder Georgina Dempsey. Dempsey top-scored with 19* from 20 balls and took the only wicket of the South African innings by dismissing the dangerous Laura Wolvaardt. About Dempsey’s performance, Joyce said:

“Georgina can take a lot from the game. Hitting the fastest bowler in world cricket for three consecutive boundaries and then dismissing one of the best batters will demonstrate to her how talented she is and give her plenty of belief.”

The second ODI between Ireland Women and South Africa Women starts at 10.45am tomorrow at Clontarf Cricket Club.

All matches in this series will be livestreamed and available at www.livestream.com/CricketIrelandLive.

Tickets to the matches are €5 adults, under-16s go free, with online ticket sales at: www.ci.cricketireland.ie/tickets.

SQUAD

The Ireland Women’s squad for the ODI series against South Africa is:

Gaby Lewis (captain), Alana Dalzell, Rachel Delaney, Georgina Dempsey, Sarah Forbes, Shauna Kavanagh, Arlene Kelly, Sophie MacMahon, Jane Maguire, Kate McEvoy, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Mary Waldron.

FIXTURES

The series dates are:

• 11 June 2022: Ireland Women v South Africa Women – 1st ODI (South Africa won by 9 wickets)
• 14 June 2022: Ireland Women v South Africa Women – 2nd ODI (Clontarf, 10.45am start)
• 17 June 2022: Ireland Women v South Africa Women – 3rd ODI (Clontarf, 10.45am start)

The three ODIs are Ireland Women’s first fixtures as part of the ICC Women’s Championship.

Craig Easdown
Ed Joyce (right) oversees the training session with Assistant Coach Glenn Querl (left)
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Connaught