Dublin, Nov 6 (IANS) Orla Prendergast will not be part of Ireland’s squad for the upcoming ICC Women’s Emerging Nations Trophy in the UAE, as Cricket Ireland has allowed the star seam-bowling all-rounder to skip the tournament and continue to play in the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL) in Australia.

In Orla’s absence, Amy Hunter has been named vice-captain of the 14-member squad led by Gaby Lewis. The squad also includes two uncapped players, Zara Craig and Abbi Harrison, while Lara Maritz has made a comeback to the team.

“Recognising a likely clash between the WBBL and the ICC Emerging Nations Tournament, the consideration was focused on what was best for Orla’s game and development. The collective agreement was that the WBBL experience would elevate Orla’s game, which, in turn, would benefit Cricket Ireland on the field with an ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualification campaign already underway and qualification for the T20 World Cup in 2028 already secured,” said Graeme West, Cricket Ireland’s director of high performance, in a statement.

Apart from Orla, Rebecca Stokell is not in the squad due to a voluntary suspension over a prescription medication breach, while Leah Paul has made herself unavailable and Christina Coulter Reilly is ruled out due to an injury.

Zara, 23, is a seam-bowling all-rounder who plays for Eglinton and Phoenix. She came through Ireland’s age-group pathway and was in the squad for the 2023 Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup in South Africa. Abbi, a 20-year-old wicketkeeper-batter from Waringstown, earned her first senior call-up after playing in the 2023 and 2025 Under-19 World Cups.

An international debut would make her the fifth member of her immediate family to play for Ireland, after her great-uncles Garfield, Jim, Roy and Deryck. She has said, though, that her grandfather Barry has had the biggest influence on her cricket. Lara, 25, returns to the national side for the first time since 2021. The all-rounder made her debut in 2017 and has 43 caps. Kia McCartney, who has five ODI caps, is yet to play a T20I match.

The 10-team event runs from November 12 to 25, and the Ireland squad leaves for the UAE on Sunday. This is the first edition of the expanded format. The previous tournament, won by Thailand, was open only to Associate nations, but this year five Full Members will take on five Associate countries.

Ireland are in Group A with Sri Lanka, Scotland, Papua New Guinea and hosts UAE. Group B is made up of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, the Netherlands and Thailand. “With no International cricket scheduled until March next year, the timing of the Emerging Nations Trophy provides our Performance Squad with the perfect opportunity to put the learning from the training programmes that have taken place over the last six weeks into high-level competition.

“The tournament itself offers our squad the opportunity to take on sides that share a similar goal of entering the top six ranked teams in the world, making for a very competitive event - just what we need as we build towards the next T20 World Cup in 2028.

“We have a few notable absentees from the squad we took to the T20 World Cup in June, but such absences provide opportunities for players that are progressing through the High Performance Pathway to showcase their talent and strengthen our pool of players capable of consistently producing impactful performances in international cricket,” added West.

Ireland open their campaign against Sri Lanka on November 12. They then play the UAE on November 13, before taking on Papua New Guinea on November 16 and Scotland on November 18. The Super Sixes will be played on November 20, 22 and 23, and the final will be played on November 25.

Squad: Gaby Lewis (captain), Amy Hunter (vice-captain), Zara Craig, Alana Dalzell, Laura Delany, Georgina Dempsey, Abbi Harrison, Louise Little, Aimee Maguire, Jane Maguire, Lara Maritz, Lara McBride, Kia McCartney, Cara Murray.

--IANS

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