The retirements of Clare Shillington, Ciara Metcalfe, Cecelia and Isobel Joyce leaves a huge void in the women's game, at a critical juncture for the sport.

Their service to the sport is a tale of huge personal sacrifice, playing as amateurs for such a long time in an increasingly professional world.

The quartet donned the green jersey for a combined total of 76 of their 146 years - an incredible testament of their skill and longevity.

CricketEurope statistician John Boomer has updated the Women's statszone after the completion of the T20 World Cup, and the importance of the four can be seen as they dominate the leading positions in the appearances, runs, wickets and fielding charts.

They have a total of 576 caps, scoring 8788 runs, taking 266 wickets, hitting three centuries, 29 fifties, while taking 148 catches and making 55 run outs.

They occupy the top three appearance slots, with Shillington's 180 caps a record, followed by Isobel Joyce (168), Cecelia (134), while Ciara Metcalfe's 94 is seventh.

In the batting charts, Clare Shillington leads the run charts with 3328 runs, scoring two hundreds, while Cecelia is in second place with 2680 (one hundred), and Isobel third place with 2623.

Miriam Grealey and Mary-Pat Moore are the only other players to have made centuries.

In the bowling stakes, Isobel Joyce is comfortably the leading wicket taker with 137 scalps, ahead of leg-spinner Metcalfe who snaffled 106.

It's no surprise to see them dominating the fielding charts too, with Isobel's 54 catches the top, just ahead of Clare's 51, while Cecelia's 30 is third, and Ciara's 14 catches in 10th slot.

While the numbers certainly tell some of the story of their incredible careers, it doesn't tell all of the legacy that the quartet will leave on the game.

Let's hope their experience isn't lost, and that appropriate roles can be found for them within the game.

It's the least they deserve.

IRELAND WOMEN APPEARANCES

All Matches, All Grades, Ireland, 26-Jul-1983 to 17-Nov-2018

# Name Club Matches
1 CMA Shillington Ireland 180
2 IMHC Joyce Ireland 168
3 CNIM Joyce Ireland 134
4 MV Waldron Ireland 127
5 L Delany Ireland 123
6 KJ Garth Ireland 103
7 CJ Metcalfe Ireland 94
8 ME Grealey Ireland 80
9 EAJ Richardson Ireland 76
10 LN McCarthy Ireland 74

IRELAND WOMEN LEADING RUN SCORERS

# Name Club Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 0 4s 6s Runs
1 CMA Shillington Ireland 180 165 14 3328 114* 22.04 3738 87.61 2 12 20 382 21 3328
2 CNIM Joyce Ireland 134 120 17 2680 119* 26.02 4023 65.90 1 8 9 294 8 2680
3 IMHC Joyce Ireland 168 143 19 2623 91* 21.15 3383 76.88 - 9 18 268 6 2623
4 CM Beggs Ireland 66 64 12 1450 79 27.88 3134 43.17 - 9 5 88 - 1450
5 ME Grealey Ireland 80 74 12 1428 101 23.03 2330 56.65 1 5 4 122 1 1428
6 L Delany Ireland 123 101 20 1352 81 16.69 2385 56.69 - 2 8 100 - 1352
7 KJ Garth Ireland 103 87 25 1344 98 21.68 2236 60.11 - 4 8 83 1 1344
8 MP Moore Ireland 47 46 4 988 114* 23.52 2220 36.85 1 3 4 55 - 988
9 GH Lewis Ireland 58 53 7 889 61 19.33 1279 69.51 - 2 2 104 2 889
10 EAJ Richardson Ireland 76 63 10 853 66 16.09 1263 67.54 - 3 7 88 3 853

IRELAND WOMEN LEADING WICKET TAKERS

# Name Club Mat Overs Mdns Runs Wkts BBI Ave Econ SR 5WI 10WM wds nbs Wkts
1 IMHC Joyce Ireland 168 835.1 81 3495 137 6-21 25.51 4.18 36.58 1 - 253 29 137
2 CJ Metcalfe Ireland 94 586.2 57 2406 106 5-18 22.70 4.10 33.19 1 - 134 17 106
3 KJ Garth Ireland 103 402 33 1835 85 4-8 21.59 4.56 28.38 - - 188 4 85
4 BM McDonald Ireland 60 521.2 96 1511 63 4-8 23.98 2.90 49.65 - - 115 1 63
5 EAJ Richardson Ireland 76 351 34 1444 56 5-4 25.79 4.11 37.61 2 - 64 3 56
6 LK O'Reilly Ireland 65 242.3 11 1332 54 4-28 24.67 5.49 26.94 - - 102 11 54
7 S Bray Ireland 40 452.1 148 865 52 7-21 16.63 1.91 52.17 3 1 21 6 52
8 C O'Neill Ireland 42 390.2 89 1055 51 4-10 20.69 2.70 45.92 - - 20 1 51
9 LN McCarthy Ireland 74 352.2 23 1560 49 4-18 31.84 4.43 43.14 - - 98 12 49
10 L Delany Ireland 123 283.3 7 1516 48 3-15 31.58 5.35 35.44 - - 79 6 48

IRELAND WOMEN FIELDING

# Name Club Mat Catches
1 IMHC Joyce Ireland 168 54
2 CMA Shillington Ireland 180 51
3 CNIM Joyce Ireland 134 30
4 KJ Garth Ireland 103 20
5 ME Scott-Hayward Ireland 62 18
6 SM Kavanagh Ireland 72 16
7 EJ Tice Ireland 58 16
8 JA Whelan Ireland 47 15
9 L Delany Ireland 123 15
10 CJ Metcalfe Ireland 94 14