Laura Delany, the former Irish women's cricket captain, says that the team have been working hard to improve their fielding ahead of the games against Zimbabwe and Pakistan, which start with a T20 international against the former at Pembroke in Dublin on Sunday.
Delany remains an integral part of the squad despite losing the captaincy to Gaby Lewis, and is now fully recovered from injury, which curtailed her involvement in last year's home games against England and South Africa.
Two 14-player squads including Delany will play three T20 Internationals at Pembroke Cricket Club, then two one-day internationals at Stormont.
Lewis will captain both squads, while Orla Prendergast will be vice-captain.
Ireland will also have a new head coach in charge with Englishman Lloyd Tennant taking over from Ed Joyce, who stepped down from the role after over six years in charge.
Ireland have a great record against the world number 14 ranked Zimbabwe, winning all seven T20s between the countries, while they have met in eight ODIs, with Ireland winning six, losing one and drawing one.
Concern though has been expressed about the quality of Ireland's fielding, with dropped catches and poor handling leading to Lewis’ side losing games they really should have won, as witnessed in the World Cup qualifiers in Pakistan earlier this year.
Delany says that the fielding is one of the three disciplines in the game that they have been working hard on.
"I think when you look at the makeup of our squad, quite often in Irish cricket, if you do well at under-15 or under-17, you're fast-tracked, and then you're on the performance squad, and sometimes you can miss out on the basics," said Delany
"For us it's making sure that we focus on those basics."
She added: "It's actually making sure that our footwork is good and that we're getting into the right position at high hands rather than just trying to catch it down around chest area.
"It's something that we've noticed when we go and play against the best sides in the world.
"They're on top of their fielding, and there have been chances that have gone down over the last number of months, particularly in pressurised games.
"And the best players will give you one opportunity, and you want to make sure that you take that."
