image source, Getty Images
- author, Richard Petrie
- role, BBC Sports NI
Ireland captain Laura Delaney has promised that her team's approach to the upcoming Women's World Cup T20 qualifiers will be “fearless and aggressive”.
The Irish, who are managed by former Ireland and England batsman Ed Joyce, will face familiar opponents Zimbabwe and the Netherlands in Abu Dhabi in the group stages of the tournament.
They begin their match against the United Arab Emirates on Thursday and will also face Vanuatu.
A total of 10 teams are chasing two spots in this year's World Cup, which will be held in Bangladesh in September and October.
“They are [the United Arab Emirates] “It's always an advantage for any team to be playing in home conditions,” Delaney said of his team's season opener.
“They've got some really good players that we've seen on film, so it's going to be important to keep those top-order hitters to as few runs as possible and for our hitters to have a really fearless, attacking performance.
“When Ed took over, he wanted us to play that style of cricket. The top three accepted it right away and although it took time, the mid-table team is now playing a fearless team. He’s more aggressive and aggressive in his mindset.”
“A really exciting team to watch.”
Sri Lanka will be at the top of the list in the tournament, with Thailand, Scotland, Uganda and the United States being the other participating nations.
Delaney said qualifying for the World Cup would raise the profile of women's cricket in Ireland, give the team an opportunity to showcase their talent to a wider audience and inspire others to take up the sport. I believe it will be provided.
“This is going to be huge for us as a group and for Irish women's cricket.” [to qualify].
“Very few of our matches are shown on TV, so qualifying for the World Cup means those matches will be shown on TV, which will increase the audience for women's cricket. I hope so.”
“Not only do we have a chance to build a career as female athletes, but this group has a lot of potential and if we play to that potential, we're going to be a really exciting team to watch.” I want to show people that.”
“It's a very good test of where we are.”
Ireland won seven out of eight T20 matches and one-day internationals on their winter tour to Zimbabwe, defeating Thailand by eight wickets in the T20 format ahead of the World Cup qualifying tournament.
They lost to Scotland in a warm-up match and then won by four wickets against the United States on Tuesday.
“For us as a group, playing against the best teams in the world is exactly where you want to be. That's why these tournaments are so important and sometimes tense,” said the 200-cap The Irish captain, who has surpassed the milestone, explained:
“One of the challenges is that every time you step on the field you play a different team, especially one you don't know much about or one you haven't played often in recent years.
“On the contrary, this is a very good test of what kind of situation we are in as individuals and as a team and how we will face it. We are looking forward to what we want from this tournament. doing.
“We have to stay true to the basics and be smart enough to change if it doesn't work out to plan.”
