The Ireland women's squad for the T20 Cricket World Cup finals has been named.
Gaby Lewis will captain the squad for the tournament to be held in England next month, but is being rested from the upcoming Tri-Series against the West Indies and Pakistan in Clontarf later this month to give her additional time to recover from a leg injury.
Bowler Jane Maguire has been ruled out of the World Cup with an injury, but Aimee Maguire has returned from injury and is included in both squads.
One aspect of the game that coach Lloyd Tennant and captain Lewis have been working on is their fielding, especially catching, which in a tight game is crucial.
Ireland’s young squad has been guilty of some dropped catches in crucial moments which has cost them match wins and Lewis was keen to point out the amount of work they were doing in the field ahead of the finals
"We had a block of fielding when we came back from the qualifiers," said Lewis.
"Indeed a month of fielding and fitness, so we could really work and concentrate on one aspect of the game.
"I think during those training sessions, our quality has gone up. We try to monitor what we are doing, our catching percentage.
"When pressure hits, mistakes happen sometimes, but certainly in training, we're moving forward.
"We've tried to replicate (catching) in training, focusing on that fitness and fielding block and doing it under pressure and when you're tired, which is obviously what happens in a game.
"Holding 10 catches just straight up at training is obviously not replicating how you feel in the game, so we tried to tailor our training towards what can we do and how can we apply the most amount of pressure in terms of competition, in terms of doing it under pressure."
There are 12 teams participating in the World Cup, split into two groups of six teams with Ireland in Group 2 facing Scotland in their opening game at Old Trafford on Saturday 13 June, followed by games against England, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies.
The top two teams in each group after the completion of the group matches proceed to the semi-final stage.
Ireland squad for Women’s T20I World Cup:
- Gaby Lewis (captain)
- Orla Prendergast (vice-captain)
- Ava Canning
- Christina Coulter Reilly
- Alana Dalzell
- Laura Delany
- Georgina Dempsey
- Amy Hunter
- Arlene Kelly
- Louise Little
- Aimee Maguire
- Lara McBride
- Cara Murray
- Leah Paul
- Rebecca Stokell
Women’s T20 World Cup 2026:
- 13 June 2026: Ireland Women v Scotland Women – T20I (Old Trafford; starts 10.30am)
- 16 June 2026: Ireland Women v England Women – T20I (Hampshire; starts 6.30pm)
- 19 June 2026: Ireland Women v New Zealand Women – T20I (Hampshire; starts 6.30pm)
- 23 June 2026: Ireland Women v Sri Lanka Women – T20I (Bristol; starts 2.30pm)
- 27 June 2026: Ireland Women v West Indies Women – T20I (Bristol; starts 2.30pm)
