Leading the side against the unfamilar Windies

The build up to the next World Cup Qualifiers starts here as far as Ireland is concerned. We were very disappointed not to do better in South Africa last February, but that is in the past, and all that matters now is the ODI series against the West Indies which starts tomorrow.

There have been a few changes to the squad since the ICC Trophy – Beggsie (Caitriona Beggs) and Lenny (Anne Linehan) retired at the end of the tournament, Elaine Nolan started her world travels from South Africa, Jill Whelan is also taking time out to travel, and captain Heather Whelan has stepped back from the game for a year.

A complete change is going on behind the scenes too. Our coach Miriam Grealey has retired after two years of hard work, as has our manager Sandra Dawson. However, we are very excited to have Matt Dwyer taking us for the upcoming series. A former international himself, Matt has a knowledge of the game that few can boast. We just hope he goes easier on us than he does on his son Mark!

Of course when players retire, or leave the game for a while, there are always those ready to take their places. There will be three new faces on the squad since February who will all want to prove themselves and cement their places before the roving travellers arrive back to try and reclaim their positions.

Amy Kenealy, Joanne McKinley and Cathy Murphy have worked hard so far this season to make themselves valuable additions to the team.

Having played West Indies only once before, and that being approximately five years ago, I personally don’t know much about them. I’ve been told bits and pieces about the last time the girls played them, but I think they are a somewhat unknown quantity. Their last international match was in the 2005 World Cup, and much has probably changed since then – only five of their 16-strong squad has been capped before.

This is our opportunity to see what stage we are at, to try and prove that we are there or thereabouts when it comes to teams that are just a few places above us in the world rankings, to see what we need to work on, and to hopefully regain a bit of pride.

So far as individual players go; Clare Shillington has been prolific with the bat in the domestic league so far this season, and Marianne Herbert extremely miserly with the ball. We will be hoping that both of them can carry this run of form into the series.

We are also excited to see the return of Melissa Scott-Hayward into the fold after a gruelling few weeks of examinations.

Personally, I hope to be able to juggle my advent into the position of captain for the series with keeping up my own playing form. Luckily I have some experienced senior players to help me in the shape my vice-captain Nicki Coffey and former captain Shillington. First of all though, we need the weather to do us a favour and clear up so we can get the series under way tomorrow!