With Irish teams competing at different ends of the world the International scene is busy at present. The Irish Women are in Nepal seeking to qualify for the Women’s T20 World Cup later in the year. At the same time the Boys U19 World Cup is taking place in Namibia. There is local interest in both tournaments with Merrion’s Leah Paul and Rebecca Stokall playing for the women and Seb Dijkstra for the U19s.
This week saw Ireland successful in critical games in both competitions. Merrion players contributed handsomely. In a crucial game against the USA, Paul top scored with 67 from 52 balls out of an Irish total of 154. Stokall [10*] provided some late impetus to set up a tight finish in which Ireland eventually came out on top by 16 runs.
In Namibia the U19s had an important head to head with Japan to go through to the next stage of the competition. In this case Ireland were chasing a total of 248 to win. Dijkstra provide the backbone for the chase with a mature 55* to see Ireland home with two overs and four wickets to spare.
For further details on the matches go to:
Match summaries from Cricket Europe at https://www.cricketeurope.com/index.shtml
Irish Women Scorecard, https://www.icc-cricket.com/news/women-s-t20-world-cup-global-qualifier-day-3-wrap
U19s Highlights and Scorecard, https://www.icc-cricket.com/tournaments/u19-cricket-worldcup-2026