ICC Europe/CricketEurope

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Ireland confirmed their superiority on Thursday with two thumping Twenty20 victories, completing the Under 17 Women’s tournament undefeated and taking the inaugural European championship at this level.

The experiment of a hybrid competition, with three 40-over matches followed by a round of Twenty20 matches, proved a great success, and the organisers were fortunate that although dark clouds built up in the course of the afternoon, there was never more than a spatter of rain and the proceedings remained uninterrupted.

The first match of the day saw hosts The Netherlands take on Scotland in a close, low-scoring game.

Winning the toss and choosing to bat, the Scots began very positively, running well between the wickets, but taking on the field proved their undoing as three run-outs contributed to their meagre total of 72 in 16.5 overs.

Success lifted the Dutch fielders, who gave their best performance of the competition, and there was some good, accurate bowling from Maxime Entrop (two for 10) and Tamara Gruter (two for 11).

It seemed a modest target, but from the moment that Wednesday’s hero Miranda Veringmeier was out off the first all she received the Dutch were in serious trouble. 5 for three became 10 for four and then 19 for five, and with Lois Wilkinson turning in another fine spell for figures of two for 14 it took a defiant effort from Heather Siegers (who made 20 from 40 deliveries) to get them anywhere near the Scottish total.

Naz Chatterji also bowled well in the later stages, taking two for 5 as The Netherlands were all out for 60 in 18.4 overs.

The Dutch next faced Ireland, by virtue of having lost the opening match. Winning the toss and putting the Irish in brought almost instant success for skipper Christine Erkelens, who trapped Kim Garth leg-before in her opening over.

Kerry Ann Carlin soon followed, making the score 15 for two, but then Laura Delany and Shauna Kavanagh added 93 for the third wicket, putting their side in a position to post a substantial total.

Erkelens eventually had Kavanagh well caught at short cover by Coco Steenstra Toussaint for 30, made from 48 deliveries, and soon afterwards added Louise McCarthy to her tally. But Delany continued almost to the end, finally being caught by Erkelens off Gruter’s bowling for a fine, run-a-ball 54, her best score of the week.

So Ireland finished on a challenging 136 for seven, and this was a total the Dutch batters never looked remotely like approaching. In fact, only Veringmeier reached double-figures as first Carlin, with three for 13, and then Delany with an even more economical three for 6, tore through the top and middle order.

In the end it became a matter of survival, and the Dutch stuttered along to 62 for eight by the time their 20 overs were complete, giving Ireland a comprehensive 74-run victory.

If Ireland had started poorly against The Netherlands, things began even worse against Scotland, with Carlin and Delany dismissed by successive deliveries from Liz Priddle to leave the champions-elect on 1 for two after the first over.

Garth (26) and Kavanagh (16) restored their side’s innings somewhat with a 33-run stand, but even so their total of 81 for six was disappointing, and gave the Scots hope of pulling off a final-match upset.

But once again the Irish bowling was too sharp, with Delany removing both openers and running out her opposite number Lynne Dickson, and suddenly Scotland were 12 for five and the match was virtually over.

Delany trapped Lorna Jack leg-before to finish with three for 8, while Emma Ryan then ran through the rest of the batting to claim the extraordinary figures of four for 6 from four overs – figures which were all the more remarkable since five of those six runs were extras!

It was an anticlimactic end to the tournament as the Scots struggled their way to 29 before they were dismissed in exactly 15 overs.

Ireland’s dominance was complete, and it was scarcely surprising that their captain Laura Delany, with 132 runs at 44.00, 12 wickets at an average of 3.83 and an economy rate of 1.96, and seven catches into the bargain, was named Player of the Tournament.