There's a real drive to develop women's cricket in Ireland: Davy Scanlon

BELFAST – Davy Scanlon, the former North West Warriors all-rounder, has been included in the coaching and support team for Ireland Women ahead of the England series, and believes the move into high performance coaching is the natural next step in his career. 

Scanlon, 40, featured in the Inter-Provincial Series between 2017 and 2019 playing 24 times cross formats, including 10 first-class matches. While still playing club cricket for his beloved Bready Cricket Club in the north-west of Ireland, Scanlon has been employed in a Development Officer role in recent years, working to strengthen and develop clubs and school programme.

With one eye on progressing his coaching career further into the high performance realm, he has been coaching with the Dragons in the Evoke Super Series this year, as well as being part of the national pathway coaching set-up, most notably at the recent women’s under-19s tournament in Loughborough. 

Scanlon said: 

“I'm really excited to get involved in the Ireland v England series – to take on England at home is as big as it can get, and I’m thankful to [head coach] Ed Joyce, Cricket Ireland and the North West Cricket Union for giving me the chance to experience something of this magnitude.

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to contribute to the coaching side as much as I can. I’ve been coaching with the Dragons this year, so I've been able to get to know the players a lot more, which will help. 

“It’s opportunities like this, and being with the under-19s last week, that will help further develop my coaching skills. Moving from participation programmes into the performance space has been something that I've wanted to do for the past couple of years. 

“Getting the opportunity to head up the female section within the North West was a great start. The level of talent we have coming through has made it easier in that switch in focus as there's a real drive to develop the game in the North West, as well as the whole of Ireland. Getting the opportunity to work with James Cameron-Dow within the Dragons set up - and ultimately stepping in once he had moved up - was, I'm not going to lie, daunting and a massive step up in terms of skill levels and the calibre of players I had the chance to work with. The players in the squad made it a really enjoyable experience, though, and I hope we can continue the excellent season we have just had moving into next year.”

Speaking about his future in the game, he said:

“I've not finished playing just yet, a few injuries meant I've missed a chunk of this season, but while I'm still capable, so I will continue to be available as much as I can.

“But coaching, while not new to me, is a career I really want to pursue. When I started coaching some 20 years ago, I really enjoyed working in developing numbers, and getting young players involved in the game. I believe I've done a decent enough job at that, so moving into the performance space was quite natural to me. The opportunity to get involved in the women’s game was something I was really interested in, and was something the North West Cricket Union encouraged. 

“I really like getting to know the players individually and figuring out how I can help them develop as a player and as a person. Seeing players perform, and perform successfully, knowing the work that goes on behind the scenes, from them and the support staff that helps them, is the best feeling in the world. Helping players to 'find form' and help them through sticky periods of performance makes what we do worthwhile. The opportunity to experience different countries and cultures has also been unreal each time I get the chance.”

And of the upcoming series?

“I expect a really high level of cricket from some of the most exciting talent within the English set up. Being recently in Loughborough at the national school games, you saw the level of players at their disposal at even the under-19s level. 

“It will be exciting for our squad to take on an English team that features full internationals, as well as players that play in the domestic county competitions and The Hundred.  

“The recent Sri Lanka series should give our players confidence that they can compete with the very best in the world. Everyone played a part in winning that ODI series last month, but we must come hard again and perform to the best of our abilities to take on this next challenge.”