Irish Women’s Cricket Team To Compete In UK County Championships

Cricket Ireland is proud to announce that the Irish women’s cricket team will take part in the UK’s County Championship, which sees the further expansion of Irish cricket. This is the first time in the history of Irish cricket that the women’s team will compete in this prestigious UK tournament.

Ireland will compete against the top 24 teams in the UK and Ireland participating in the tournament and will play a total of four matches over the 2009 fixtures. Ireland will compete in Division Five along with Leicestershire, Northumberland, Cumbria and Suffolk.

Participation in the County Championship will provide a longer season for the Irish women’s team, as well as provide a challenging playing environment. Commenting on the announcement Warren Deutrom, Cricket Ireland, Chief Executive said; “Our incorporation in ECB’s County Championship will begin to provide the consistency of top-quality competition that speaks directly to the ambitious challenges laid down for our senior women in our new High Performance Plan. We are grateful to ECB for providing us with this valuable opportunity and we wish our women the very best of luck in meeting the high standards set within the women’s game in England.”

RSA’s Chief Executive Philip Smith, the official sponsor of Cricket Ireland said; “Today’s news sees a fantastic development of Irish cricket as our women’s team will compete in a rigorous and well-seasoned tournament featuring the best teams that the UK has to offer. The group that Ireland will compete in is a tough one and no doubt it will help the team improve their standard of play.”

Ireland’s fixtures in the tournament are:

  • Leicestershire (23rd May 2009)
  • Suffolk (24th May 2009)
  • Cumbria (8th August 2009)
  • Northumberland (9th August 2009)

Recently, RSA announced a three-year agreement with Cricket Ireland to expand its Official Team Sponsorship of Ireland’s National Cricket teams. The sponsorship agreement extends from the 2009 to 2012 seasons and covers the Senior team, ‘‘A” team, Women’s Team, Under 23 and Under 19 Team.