The Ireland Women’s cricket team will take to the crease in Pakistan tomorrow morning, taking the first step towards hopefully qualifying for this year’s One Day International World Cup.
The qualifier event runs from the 9th to the 19th of April, with their opening match taking place tomorrow against Pakistan Women.
The qualifier tournament is a six-team event in a round-robin format, including West Indies, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Scotland, Thailand and Ireland.
The top two teams will qualify for the 2025 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup, to be played in September 2025. The 2025 Women’s ODI World Cup is an eight-team event.
Ireland Women last qualified for an ODI World Cup in 2005.
In August 2024, Ireland Women beat Sri Lanka Women 2-1 in an ODI series in Belfast. They have also had recent success against Pakistan and Bangladesh in T20I cricket.
Ireland Women arrived in Pakistan on 4th April. They then played two warm-up games: first against West Indies Women and then Thailand Women – which saw all-rounder Laura Delany score back-to-back half-centuries.
“We’re feeling very confident going into this Qualifier,” said Gaby Lewis, Team Captain speaking from the team hotel in Lahore.
“We’ve had some great preparation leading up to it with a good training camp in Dubai, and we’ve been working really hard to acclimatise to the heat. There were some heat chamber sessions back home.”
“Overall, we’re trying not to put too much pressure on ourselves. It’s mostly about going out, enjoying ourselves and playing with an aggressive nature – then hopefully the results will look after themselves.”
“One definitely to watch would be Orla Prendergast. She’s been great for us over the last twelve months with both bat and ball – so really looking forward to seeing what she can do in this tournament.”
“The next player would be Laura Delany, who’s done brilliantly in the first two warm-up games. She’s also been great for us over the last 12 months – so looking forward to seeing her with bat and ball in this Qualifier tournament.”
“It’s been great in Pakistan. We’ve been here before, so we knew exactly what it’s like – you’re always well looked after.”
“We’re set up nicely at the hotel and you feel very safe. We’re really enjoying the surroundings and everyone’s been extremely welcoming. So really looking forward to getting started in the Qualifier.”
The fixtures are:
9 April 2025: Ireland vs Pakistan – Gaddafi Stadium 05:30 AM Irish Time
11 April 2025: Ireland vs West Indies – Gaddafi Stadium 05:30 AM
13 April 2025: Ireland vs Bangladesh – Gaddafi Stadium 10:00 AM
15 April 2025: Ireland vs Thailand – LCCA 05:30 AM
18 April 2025: Ireland vs Scotland Gaddafi Stadium 10:00 AM
All games will be live-streamed on icc.tv
Further Reading for Sport for Business members:
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