Ireland Women to host Netherlands for four T20Is in July

Ireland Women are set to host Netherlands in a four-match T20I series which is scheduled to take place at Malahide from July 26 to 30. The series holds massive significance for both sides with the all-important ICC Women’s T20 World Cup European Qualifier getting underway in August in Spain. Both Ireland and Netherlands would view this series as an opportunity for preparation and it would be interesting to see how it unfolds.

Notably, the Irish team hasn’t hosted many fixtures since the last two years with the dangerous COVID-19 pandemic coming in the picture. Several important series and tournaments were also postponed and called off due to the same. Hence, both teams would want this series to be conducted smoothly. It would indeed be a fascinating series with Ireland and Netherlands being two of the strongest associate teams.

The home team must be high on confidence as they defeated Scotland 3-1 in a four-match T20I series at Stormont last month. Notably, Ireland had lost the first game of the series by 11 runs and were on backfoot. However, they made an emphatic bounce back and registered victories in the remaining fixtures. Ireland head coach Ed Joyce is indeed a delighted man after his side’s sensational show against the Scottish team.

Youngsters stepping up and shouldering responsibility was very encouraging: Ed Joyce

“It was great to see the character and determination emerging from this young squad after we went 1-0 down in the Scotland series last month. To turn it around and dominate the following three matches told me a lot about the focus and competitive edge that this squad possesses. Indeed, that last squad was missing some of our key players, so to see a number of our emerging talent step up and shoulder responsibility was very encouraging,” Cricbuzz quoted Joyce as per saying.

Notably, Ireland will a chance to polish their skills ahead of Netherlands series and they’ll take on Lancashire Women in a one-off encounter at the Old Trafford Cricket Ground against in Manchester next week. On the other hand, it would be a great challenge for the Netherlands team as they haven’t played international cricket for nearly two years and it would be interesting to see how they tackle the Irish side.