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Elite players from the Ireland senior women’s squads, the Shapoorji Pallonji Emerging Academy and the Senior Academy/Wolves will travel abroad this winter to develop their skills and techniques
It’s mid-September now and nearly all the pitches around the country have been put to bed. The groundsmen are hard at work thinking of summer 2018 and preparing the square for those long, hazy days.
For the last six or seven months you’ve thought about cricket every day; is there a match, will I have a net, will I turn my arm over, I’ll go to the gym, I’ll recover in the pool. For many of us our gear is packed away, only to be thought of early next year.

For two of Ireland’s finest cricketers, this is certainly not the case.

Kim Garth and Isobel Joyce won the Toyota Super 3s competition with the Scorchers this season. Kim plays for Pembroke CC and Isobel for Merrion CC. With their clubs they have played women’s 20 over & 50 over matches as well as first eleven cricket this season. They are also international cricketers with senior roles within a squad that has seen many debuts this season.

Training is scheduled in and around these matches. They are sessions with the Scorchers, there are Ireland group gym sessions, there are club sessions; the list goes on until an eight-day week is needed.

However, 2 minutes in the company of these elite athletes and it’s clear that when they say they feel lucky to be able to commit to all those teams and training sessions, they say it with true conviction.

Kim has just finished her studies in Sports Management and the drive she exudes, proves she is capable of combining her studies with training successfully.

Last year she spent the winter in Australia, playing a role for the Sydney Sixers in their Women’s Big Bash League victory. Kim returns to Australia in 2017 to play club cricket in Melbourne and time will tell if she can have the same impact this year.

In 2017, Kim was consistently one of the top bowlers in Pembroke and played in the first XI, taking wickets as she opened the attack. There is no doubting her ability and nous but understated as she is, all matches are described as “just another game of cricket where my job is to take wickets”.

Isobel has already departed for Tasmania for her stint down under and on the day we met, both were itching to go training and ensure they were in the best possible shape to make the most of their time in Australia.

It is another example of the drive and will to make the most of their talents they both possess. Speaking about their role with the Scorchers they both felt with a young squad, there was more responsibility to perform their skills to guide them along but that seems to come naturally to both Kim and Isobel.

What also seems natural is the bond between the two girls and they both commented on the fact that the Scorchers squad and the Irish squad are such close-knit groups. Spending so much time in each other’s company over the summer, it’s vital to be able to get on but good team spirit is not something to be taken for granted.

The seven day a week summer season in Ireland has given way to a winter season for Ireland’s elite players. There are senior women’s players heading to Australia, there are Shapoorji Pallonji Emerging Academy players gaining valuable experience abroad and Senior Academy/Wolves players doing the same.

It may be mid-September in Ireland but elsewhere Ireland’s players will be making the most of the opportunities that present themselves.


Cricket Ireland
Kim Garth and Isobel Joyce with their Toyota Super 3s medals, won with the Scorchers in 2017
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