Kim Garth 'nervous and excited' as life comes full circle

Australia all-rounder Kim Garth stated that she is nervous and excited to play against her former team Ireland. Ireland will host Australia in a three-match ODI series, with the first match beginning on July 23 at Castle Avenue in Dublin. Notably, this will be Australia's first ODI series against Ireland since 2005.

The speedster last featured in the Australian XI in the one-off Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, which the Alyssa Healy-led side won by 89 runs. The 27-year-old has been benched across the T20I as well as the ODI series against England. Notably, she will be included in the playing XI in the absence of Megan Schutt, who returned home following the Ashes series.

Ahead of the first ODI, Garth said that she is nervous and excited to face her former teammates, and it will be a weird experience if she plays. She also said that she is very grateful for the Ireland players, who have been very supportive of her.

"I'm a little bit nervous and excited at the same time as well. And if I do get the chance to go out there and play on Sunday, I'm sure it'll be a bit of a weird experience. But the Irish girls have been really supportive on my journey and I'm still friends with a lot of them and that's something that I'm very appreciative of.

We got in two nights ago and I took the opportunity to spend a little bit of time at home with my parents and my brothers. It's been really cool just trying to show the girls around some good spots in Dublin," cricket.com.au.

I'm still kind of pinching myself that I'm in the best team in the world: Garth

Kim Garth, who began playing for Australia in December 2022, said it was a tough call. However, she acknowledged that it was the decision she had to make to pursue her dream of being a full-time professional cricketer, which was not an option in Ireland.

"I'm still kind of pinching myself that I'm in this side and they are – we are, sorry – the best team in the world. There's so much talent coming through in domestic cricket so you've got to do everything you can to stay ahead of the game and just make sure you keep improving. But being in an environment like this, it's hard not to try and better yourself and improve with the resources we have around us, we're very lucky," she added.