Skipper Laura Delany’s all-round masterclass seals the T20I series against Netherlands

Laura Delany. (Photo Source: Twitter/IrishWomensCric)

AMSTELVEEN, Netherlands – On the day that captain Laura Delany became the most capped Ireland Women’s player, she delivered a Player of the Match performance as Ireland took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match T20I series against the Netherlands.Laura Delany

Delany scored 20 with the bat and took career-best figures of 3-5 with the ball, as Ireland cruised to a 66-run victory with over four overs remaining. Having been sent into bat, openers Gaby Lewis and Amy Hunter started brightly. However, Lewis (19) fell in the fifth over when Robine Rijke angled her second delivery into the right-hander and clipped her off-stump.

Orla Prendergast came in at three and continued the aggressive style, scoring a couple of well-timed shots for boundaries in her first over. In the ninth over sweep shots from Hunter produced back-to-back boundaries, and she added another with the final ball of the over to move onto 31.

Wicket-keeper batter Hunter and Prendergast combined well to post a 51-run second-wicket partnership before Prendergast flicked one straight to Carlijn van Koolaijk at mid-wicket off the bowling of Phebe Molkenboer, with Ireland 78-2.  Hunter eventually fell on 36 after a short ball from Dekeling was skied to Babette de Leede.

Delany and Rebecca Stokell then went on to score 31 runs between them, before they both departed in the space of just six balls. After a late cameo from Louise Little – 17 runs off six balls – Ireland finish their innings on 148-6. In their response, Netherlands opening pair Iris Zwilling and Hannah Siegers didn’t shy away from Ireland’s bowling attack of Prendergast and Ava Canning.

However, both openers were gone by the fifth over, as Canning and Dempsey struck in the space of five balls. Player of the Match from the first game of the series, Arlene Kelly, got Robine Rijke to sweep one to Prendergast in the deep for the third wicket, with the Netherlands 46-3 in the sixth over.

Having looked optimistic initially, the Netherlands were forced to attempt a re-build through Frederique Overdijke and Babette de Leede, but those efforts didn’t last long, as Kelly struck again to remove Overdijke, with the help of quick hands from Hunter behind the stumps. Pure pace from Kelly got rid of Molkenboer, as the Netherlands were in real trouble at 49-5 after eight overs.

After that, the Netherlands batting collapsed, with only van Koolwijke making double figures, with Delany taking three quick wickets. The result was finally confirmed when Freya Sargent delighted her team-mates by taking her first international wicket, and the final one of the game, clean bowling de Leede as Ireland claimed a series win. The sides will meet again tomorrow, 17 August, at the same venue for the final match of the series starting at 1 pm Ireland time.

MATCH SUMMARY

Netherlands Women v Ireland Women, 2nd T20 International, VRA Cricket Ground, Amstelveen, Netherlands, 16 August 2023

Ireland 148-6 (20 overs; A Hunter 36, O Prendergast 25; R Rijke 3-37)

Netherlands 82 (15.5 overs; B de Leede 21, H Siegers 18; L Delany 3-5)

Ireland won by 66 runs