Ireland has announced a 15-player squad for the Women’s multi-format tour to the West Indies later this month in St Lucia.

The tour will involve three ODI's (part of the ICC Women’s Championship) and three T20 Internationals

Laura Delany will captain the team, and the squad will depart for St Lucia on Wednesday 21 June.

“We're really excited to go to the Caribbean and play in this multi-format series against West Indies," said Head Coach Ed Joyce. It's our first cricket since the T20 World Cup in February, so it’s been quite a big break for the group.

“A tour abroad in the middle of our summer is unusual, but it’s a great place to tour. I've been fortunate to have gone there as a player a few times and, you know, they love their cricket. I was there for the Men’s World Cup in 2007, and it was great fun. It should be a brilliant tour for everyone, especially for our young group.

“In terms of team selection, Aimee Maguire has come into the squad for her first tour. She's a really exciting young left-arm spinner – it’s a role we are really trying to strengthen. The rest of the group have played and toured before, and despite the average age of the squad is still less than 24, there’s still plenty of experience within the group.

“If we play well, we're going to be really competitive, and we're really hoping to get our first win in the ICC Women's Championship. We’ve found that format of the game really tough, which is understandable considering we don't play very much of it. But, we definitely have the tools to win out there. It's just about whether we can put it all together on the day.

“We’ve played quite a lot of T20 cricket and we're comfortable with the way we want to go about playing that format. We had a great game against the West Indies at the recent World Cup, where we just came out on the losing side. Albeit, I think we had enough chances to win that game.  So yes, we’re definitely looking to get some wins. I think if we play well, we can definitely achieve that, but there’s no doubt the West Indies will be tough to beat.

“Unfortunately, Jane Maguire and Shauna Kavanagh miss the tour through injury – both big losses – but, we’re all looking forward to going away in a few weeks. We've had some good weather recently, some really good training, along with some competitive Super Series action. We had some good practise games against some boys teams as well. We'll be well prepared to give a good account of ourselves out there. We've got a really exciting young team that’s improving all the time, and if we play well we can get those elusive wins.”

SQUAD
Laura Delany (capt), Ava Canning, Georgina Dempsey, Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Gaby Lewis, Louise Little, Sophie MacMahon, Aimee Maguire, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Eimear Richardson, Rebecca Stokell, Mary Waldron.
 
FIXTURE SCHEDULE

26 June: Ireland Women v West Indies Women – 1st ODI (St Lucia; starts 10am local time) 
28 June: Ireland Women v West Indies Women – 2nd ODI (St Lucia; starts 10am local time)
1 July: Ireland Women v West Indies Women – 3rd ODI (St Lucia; starts 3pm local time; D/N) 

4 July: Ireland Women v West Indies Women – 1st T20I (St Lucia; starts 5pm local time; D/N)
6 July: Ireland Women v West Indies Women – 2nd T20I (St Lucia; starts 5pm local time; D/N)
8 July: Ireland Women v West Indies Women – 3rd T20I (St Lucia; starts 5pm local time; D/N)