Cricket/Women's World Cup: Ireland have a realistic chance of reaching the last four of this month's ICC Women's World Cup in South Africa, according to team captain Clare Shillington. Speaking at the launch of the national team's campaign in Dublin yesterday, Shillington said they had singled out certain other sides they felt were there for the taking.
"To win the whole thing would be nice but realistically we have set ourselves certain goals we know we can achieve," she said.
The first of those goals is to beat perhaps the two weakest sides in the competition, the West Indies and Sri Lanka, and so finish in the top six of the eight-team event. This would allow Ireland to avoid having to qualify for the 2009 competition.
"We definitely think we can beat South Africa, too, as they have a very young team this year. We came close to beating India in the last World Cup so we feel we can go one better this time," said Shillington.
Ireland are aiming for a place in the semi-finals for the first time in their four World Cup appearances. The 14-player squad leaves for Pretoria in a week and will play a number of warm-up matches before their first big test, against the host nation on March 22nd.
With a three-year sponsorship deal in place with Bosch home appliances, the team have been working hard since the end of the 2004 season in September to remain fit and focused.
They have reason to be confident. Last year, they qualified for the event in New Zealand unbeaten, overcoming the Netherlands and West Indies in the process.
That said, three defeats to current world champions New Zealand in Dublin last summer highlighted the gap that still exists between Ireland and the top teams.
IRELAND SQUAD: C Shillington (captain), C Joyce (vice-captain), M Grealey, Ba MacDonald, C Beggs, A Linehan, H Whelan, N Coffey, E Beamish, U Budd, J Whelan, M Herbert, Jo Day, JSmythe.
SCHEDULE: March 22nd: Ireland v South Africa, Supersport Park. March 24th: Ireland v India, Technikon. March 26th: Ireland v England, Eersterust CC. March 28th: Ireland v New Zealand, Harlequins. March 30th: Ireland v West Indies, Loudium Oval. April 1st: Ireland v Australia, Eesterust CC. April 3rd: Ireland v Sri Lanka, Technikon.
