THE IRELAND women’s side have their busiest summer ever, with a dozen fixtures against some of the best teams in the world. The inception last year of the ICC World Championship gives Ireland some guaranteed plum games whereas in the past they scraped and bowed to be allowed to play the big three of India, England and Australia.

And although they have lost their first six games in the new competition, a young confident side will look to pick up a few wins before it finishes. This summer they travel to St Lucia for a series against West Indies, host Australia in Clontarf and visit the Netherlands.

“We should be really competitive against the West Indies”, says head coach Ed Joyce, the former Ireland batsman. “We played them in a really good game in the World Cup – and we’d have won if we’d taken our catches. We were really gutted to lose that.

“West Indies are in a rebuilding phase and we definitely want to win a game or two out there and get some momentum. It will be interesting to see how the pitch plays in St Lucia – they haven’t played there much, but in men’s games it takes spin which is not an area we’re strong in.”

Joyce has been in charge for four years now, and has moulded a talented group into a team that has beaten South Africa and Australia, and won series in Pakistan and Zimbabwe.

“The thing [assistant coach] Glenn Querl and I love is that the talent is definitely there, they’re a very young group. Our top three players, Orla Prendergast, Gaby Lewis and Amy Hunter are very young – the sky is the limit for them.”

That trio have started making waves – Prendergast was selected on the team of the tournament after the last World Cup and scored a century on her debut in English county cricket last month. Lewis, first capped aged 13, has become a dominant batter in all formats while Hunter became the youngest international century-maker in the game’s history when she made a hundred on her 16th birthday two years ago.

“Orla scoring a century in her first game in England with Western Storm was pretty special”, says Joyce. “Gaby has played in The Hundred too, and they are legitimising our players in a way in England. It’s the same as when the Pattersons, Eoin Morgan and I went over – once they realise over there the talent on their doorstep.”

There are several other teenagers Joyce sees as future stars. “Jane Maguire’s sister Amy is very raw but she has big potential. She was a left arm seamer and has switched to spin and making great strides. Lulu Little has been around for ages but she had a bad injury and is only coming back. Freya Sargent from Clontarf looks very good, but honestly there’s half a dozen others I could name.”

The first home audiences will see of them is in July when Australia come to Castle Avenue for three ODIs.

“They’re a brilliant team, current world champions in both formats, and it will be a really hard test for us,” says Joyce. “Hopefully it will be good weather and a decent crowd in Clontarf. We played them in a warm-up for the World Cup and took them a bit by surprise, winning by three wickets.

“It would be great if a few of our players did well against them, bowled tight spells or scored a 50 or 100 as that would give them a huge boost in confidence.”

Arguably Ireland’s finest hour to date came in Pakistan in November when they won an overseas series – something their male counterparts have yet to do.

“The Pakistan tour was a great success”, says Joyce. “We were disappointing in the ODIs when we didn’t bowl well, and we know we need greater consistency. That tour showed us that we really need to find a good finger spinner to give us control. We’ve brought in some young girls who could fit the bill such as Freya Sargent, Amy Maguire and Kia McCartney.

“But we went on to have that T20 series win and almost beat India in the World Cup, losing by five runs. We would definitely have won if we had taken our catches, which showed the girls what they need to work on.

“We have some really good players and we’re improving all the time. Honestly, we feel we can beat anyone.”

Ireland tour of West Indies: 26 June-9 July

Ireland v Australia, Clontarf: 23, 25, 28 July