Dublin [Ireland]: Ireland announced their squads for their upcoming home white-ball series against Sri Lanka and named Laura Delany the skipper.
The younger sister of star Ireland men’s batter Harry Tector, Alice Tector, also received her maiden national team call. Christina Coulter-Reilly is also in line to make her debut after she was named in the 14-player squad for the two T20I matches starting on August 11.
Ireland coach Ed Joyce is expecting a tough battle from the Sri Lanka team and wants his players to embrace the difficult task in front of them during the series.
“Every international series for us is really important because we know we want to see progression. It’s always tricky looking at results, especially when playing against teams ranked much higher than us,” Joyce was quoted by ICC as saying.
“Sri Lanka have really improved – we were obviously hoping to play them in the final in the (ICC Women’s T20 World Cup) qualifiers, but didn’t quite get there. You know, they’ve obviously got one of the world’s best in captain Chamari Athapaththu, but the rest of their players seem to be young and hungry and doing really well. So I think they’re both two very tough series for us,” Joyce added.
The first and second T20I matches will be played on August 11 and August 13, respectively. Both matches will be played in Pembroke.
The ODI series will begin on August 16. The second and third 50-over matches between Ireland and Sri Lanka will be played on August 18 and August 20, respectively. All three matches of the series will be played in Stormont.
T20I Squad: Laura Delany (C), Ava Canning, Christina Coulter-Reilly, Alana Dalzell, Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Gaby Lewis, Jane Maguire, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Una Raymond-Hoey, Freya Sargent, Rebecca Stokell.
ODI Squad: Laura Delany (C), Ava Canning, Alana Dalzell, Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Gaby Lewis, Joanna Loughran, Aimee Maguire, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Una Raymond-Hoey, Freya Sargent, Rebecca Stokell, Alice Tector.