Ireland’s women will be looking to get a step up on their male colleagues over the next nine days as they bid to earn one of the three places on offer at next year’s World Twenty20 finals in Bangladesh as the eight-team global qualifier gets under way in Dublin.
With the men’s qualifier not taking place until November, it is a chance for coach Jeremy Bray and his squad to book a ticket first and also earn qualification for a world event for the first time since the 2005 World Cup in South Africa.
Pakistan will go into the tournament as strong favourites and showed they are well ahead of Ireland just now with victories in a series of T20 and ODIs in England and Dublin over recent weeks.
Ireland are seeded third behind Sri Lanka, who are also placed in Group A of the competition, so a victory in Saturday’s final group game between the sides would likely see Ireland play a team ranked below them in the semi-finals in a bid to make the qualifier final and earn qualification.
The final ticket to Bangladesh will be handed to the winner of the third/fourth place play-off
First up for Ireland this morning is a game against Japan at Milverton in Skerries (10am)