IRELAND WOMEN SQUADS ANNOUNCED

IRELAND'S selectors have unveiled a total of 37 players in their winter training squads, split between their Performance squad and the Emerging Players Programme.

The 2015 season is shaping up to be one of the busiest ever for the Irish, with in addition to their ECB County Championship commitments, they have three T20I's confirmed against Australia, and also an ICC World Twenty20 Qualifying event in Thailand.

The 17 player Performance squad contains no fewer than 14 players who played in Ireland's first T20 global event in Bangladesh earlier this year, although Mary Waldron and Eimear Richardson won't figure in the Irish based training sessions, as both are currently abroad playing in Australia and New Zealand.

World Cup winning coach Mark Lane will be acting as interim head coach for the Performance squad until the New Year, when Cricket Ireland hope to appoint a permanent Head Coach to replace Trent Johnston, who left recently to take up an appointment with Cricket New South Wales.

The Emerging Players squad includes Gaby Lewis and Fiona Gill, both of whom gained senior recognition in 2014.

Also included in the 20 player squad are three Northern based players: Hannah Grieve of Lurgan, Tori Lapsley of Strabane Saints, and Naomi Matthews of Donacloney/Waringstown).

The squads in full are as follows:

Cricket Ireland Women Performance Squad:

Isobel Joyce, Cecelia Joyce, Elena Tice, Kate McKenna, Hannah de Burgh Whyte (all Merrion ); Laura Delany, Amy Kenealy, Eimear Richardson, Rebecca Rolfe (all Leinster ); Claire Shillington, Lucy O’Reilly, Emma Flanagan, Jennifer Gray (all YMCA); Louise McCarthy, Kim Garth, Shauna Kavanagh (all Pembroke); Mary Waldron (Malahide).

Cricket Ireland Women EPP Squad:

Fiona Gill (Malahide), Rebecca Stockell, Pia Diepman, Anna Kerrison, Sophie MacMahon (all Leinster); Ruby Neville, Leah Paul, Hannah McKay, Rachel Delany (all Merrion); Katie Boylan, Veronica Fay-Watt (both The Hills); Robyn Lewis, Gaby Lewis (both YMCA); Vanessa Kaleda (Phoenix), Una Raymond-Hoey (Clontarf), Hannah Grieve (Lurgan), Clodagh Conway (Rush), Tori Lapsley (Strabane), Alison O’Reilly (Railway Union), Naomi Matthews (Donacloney/Waringstown).