Ireland To Play Australia In Three T20 International In Dublin

Ireland Women will host Australia in three T20 International matches in August next year.The Commonwealth Bank Southern Stars will visit Dublin to play Ireland's Women from 18th - 22nd August - the venues and exact dates for these matches will be confirmed in due course.

The games will form part of Australia's preparations to play England in their own T20 International Series, while for Ireland the visit gives the home team the chance to test themselves against world class opposition prior to the ICC World T20 Qualifiers to be held in Thailand later in the year.

Richard Holdsworth, Performance Director at Cricket Ireland was pleased Australia had agreed to visit, believing Ireland's encouraging performances at this year's ICC World T20 played a role in their decision to come.

"We are grateful to Cricket Australia for agreeing to these matches and supporting the Ireland Women's team programme. The squad were competitive at this year's World Twenty20 and had some close contests. It is important we play as many countries as possible in the top 10 as this is the way we will improve and gain experience, so these three matches will serve as great preparation ahead of the World Twenty20 Qualifier in late 2015."

The Southern Stars aren't the only Australian team that will visit Irish shores in August, with their male counterparts coming to take on the Boys in Green at Stormont on Thursday August 27th. Tickets for that much anticipated clash are now available on www.cricketireland.ie and at Ticket Master outlets nationwide.

Meanwhile Cricket Ireland has confirmed that Ireland women's consultant coach and former England head coach Mark Lane will head up the senior coach role until the new year.

Richard Holdsworth commented: "We undertook an extensive recruitment process for the new role of national women's head coach and performance pathway manager, but did not find a suitable candidate. Therefore, we shall re-advertise the position shortly and hope to fill the vacancy in the new year. Mark has worked with our women's performance squad for the last 12 months at various times and knows the squad very well. He is an outstanding coach and will continue to add great value to their winter programme which starts next week".