Ireland Women to host Australia as part of bumper summer schedule

Dubai, March 31 (SocialNews.XYZ) Ireland Women will play Australia in an ODI series on home turf for the first time since 2005, as well as tour the West Indies and Netherlands for white-ball series.

A packed summer schedule will give Ireland Women an opportunity to build invaluable experience against top-line opposition, with the reigning ICC Women's Cricket World Cup champions sure to offer the sternest of tests, reports ICC.

Australia Women will tour Ireland for an ODI series for the first time since 2005 when the teams meet in three matches in Clontarf in July as part of the ICC Women's Championship.

The dominant Australia are the No.1 ranked Women's ODI team and have won 43 of their past 45 matches in the format, including an unbeaten tournament run to claim the Women's Cricket World Cup title in 2022.

But Ireland Women showed signs that they can match it with the best when they stunned Australia with a three-wicket victory in a warm-up fixture ahead of the ICC Women's T20 World Cup earlier this year. Australia still went on to lift that trophy shortly after.

Ireland Women will also face the West Indies in three ODIs as part of the ICC Women's Championship when they head to the Caribbean in June. The tour will finish with three T20Is between the teams.

To round out a busy summer for the squad, Ireland Women will travel to the Netherlands in August for a three-match T20I series at VRA Amstelveen.

"It can't be underestimated how important participation in the ICC Women's Championship has been for Ireland - both in attracting top sides to Ireland and playing away in some great, but challenging venues," Warren Deutrom, chief executive of Cricket Ireland, said.

"Combined with their participation in the recently completed T20 World Cup, 2023 is a big year for the squad and they have already demonstrated their potential over the last six months or more.

"We recently showed in the warm-up win over Australia at the past T20 World Cup, and the nail-biting Group Stage match against the West Indies, that we can compete with the best."

West Indies Women v Ireland Women fixtures
1st ODI: 26 June
2nd ODI: 29 June
3rd ODI: 2 July

1st T20I: 5 July
2nd T20I: 7 July
3rd T20I: 9 July

Ireland Women v Australia Women fixtures
1st ODI: 23 July
2nd ODI: 25 July
3rd ODI: 28 July

Netherlands Women v Ireland Women fixtures
1st T20I: 14 August
2nd T20I: 16 August
3rd T20I: 17 August

Source: IANS