Photo Credit: Oisin Keniry
Ahead of a busy summer campaign against a number of the world’s top sides, Ireland Women’s head coach Ed Joyce will be taking the senior performance squad to Spain for an intensive weeks’ warm weather training camp from 21-27 April 2022.
The performance squad will train at the Desert Springs Cricket Ground, in Almeria, as they build up to a summer of cricket that will feature fixtures against South Africa, Pakistan and the newly-crowned ICC Women’s World Cup winners, Australia.
Nineteen players (with the exception of Eimear Richardson who is in New Zealand) will travel to the camp for the week for sessions covering technical skills, bowling and batting, strength and conditioning, and both individual and group activities.
Speaking ahead of the trip, head coach Ed Joyce said:
“We haven’t played a game or trained on grass wickets since the World Cup qualifiers in late 2021, so this is an opportunity to get outside in sunny weather (hopefully) and get some realistic skills work in before the Super Series starts in May, and South Africa visit in June. We are bringing the entire Performance Squad, minus Eimear Richardson, so we will be able to have a mix of nets and centre wicket/practice matches on the trip.
“A large part of the trip is just getting the winter out of the legs and being used to playing on grass again. We are also working on lots of specific things with the batting, bowling and fielding group which we can continue. These include practising against high-pace for our batters, variations for our seamers, and specific types of catching and throwing for the fielding group.
“The players have worked incredibly hard all winter on all aspects of their game, especially on fielding where we have utilised the indoor 4G surface at the IRFU HP Centre in the Sport Ireland Campus. I’m really happy with the attitude, commitment, and improvements that we’ve made. This camp will be an opportunity to further hone these skills on grass leading into a very exciting 2022 summer.”
And has the recent ICC Women’s World Cup in New Zealand provided any insights for upcoming opponents?
“We all watched a lot of the World Cup. The games were incredibly close, it was a fantastic spectacle. Some of the catching was brilliant, and we are trying to improve this area of our game. It’s been noticeable how the teams with faster bowlers have used the short ball, so we need to prepare for that to some degree. We are also aware that our batters need to be able to manipulate spinners for singles to a greater skill level than we possibly showed last year.
“It has been very useful to see the teams that we will play this season in Ireland in action too. Our conditions here mightn’t be the same as in New Zealand at the World Cup, but we can still see how teams like to operate and get some useful information that way.”
Training camp squad
Laura Delany, Shauna Kavanagh, Sophie MacMahon, Cara Murray, Celeste Raack, Mary Waldron, Ava Canning, Georgina Dempsey, Amy Hunter, Gaby Lewis, Louise Little, Jane Maguire, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Rebecca Stokell. Rachel Delaney, Sarah Forbes, Hannah Little, Kate McEvoy.
Coaching and support staff: Ed Joyce, Glenn Querl, Beth Healy, Greg Hollins, Catherine Simpson, Jay Shelat
Name of Author: Cricket Ireland
Cricket Ireland, officially known as The Irish Cricket Union Company Limited by Guarantee, is the governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland. It oversees the national men’s and women’s teams and organizes the Inter-Provincial Series, Super 3s, and All-Ireland club competitions. Ireland achieved Test status for women in 2000 and for men in 2017 when it became a Full Member of the ICC.
