A STYLISH 71 from Orla Prendergast – on the day her club and national teammate Mary Waldron announced her retirement – couldn’t stop world champions Australia from finishing the three-match Certa Women’s ODI Challenge with a 10-wicket win, taking the series 2-0 in Clontarf today.
Stand-in Australian captain Tahlia McGrath won the toss and didn’t hesitate to send Ireland into bat first under overcast skies. In an unusual start to the innings, opener Leah Paul played a hook shot to a short-pitch ball from Darcie Brown only to clip her own stumps with the bat’s backswing.
Amy Hunter (9) briefly shone with two boundaries, but it was the women’s Caribbean Premier League-bound duo of Gaby Lewis (35) and Prendergast who steadied the ship and began to take the game back to the visitors. The pair put on a near-chanceless 66-run stand for the third wicket and looking increasingly comfortable against an attack that was missing Ellyse Perry but still contained world-class talent.
With the score on 88-2, Lewis was trapped in front by Georgia Wareham bringing Irish skipper Laura Delany to the crease. Despite a streaky early boundary, Delany settled in and in partnership with Prendergast put on 71 for the fourth wicket. Prendergast brought up her half-century off 84 balls as the pair ran hard between the wickets.
Prendergast’s impressive stay ended on 71 striking a low full toss to the fielder at deep mid-wicket, which preceded a late order collapse. In all, six wickets fell for 25 runs as the Australians cleaned up the tail in 49 overs – Ireland finishing on 217. Rebecca Stokell’s late cameo of 27* ensuring the home side had a total to bowl at.
The Australian run-chase got off to a solid start with Phoebe Litchfield and Annabel Sutherland taking advantage of a few half-chances early – the Irish bowlers toiled hard but couldn’t engineer a breakthrough with the batting sides 100 coming up off 16 overs.
As the innings went on both batters looked to take the aerial route more often, and in short order both Litchfield and Sutherland sailed past their respective half-centuries and registered well-deserved centuries, bringing up the winning runs moments later in the 36th over.
Earlier in the day, Mary Waldron – the most-capped Ireland Women’s player of all time – announced her retirement after 13 years and 184 caps. Missing what would have been her last game through injury, Waldron was recognised with a Guard of Honour and a presentation after the match.
The Irish side now have a break until their tour to The Netherlands next month.
Elsewhere, the Ireland men fell to an eight-run defeat against Scotland in the final of the T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier tournament at the Grange Cricket Club in Edinburgh.
Both Ireland and Scotland had already already secured their spot at next year’s T20 World Cup – with Ireland booking their place after Thursday’s game against Germany was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain.
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