Irish women’s cricket has received a major boost with news that Ireland has been selected to host the ICC Women’s World Twenty20 Global Qualifier next year.
The tournament, which will be held in July and August 2013, will see the eight best teams from the second tier of the sport compete for one place in the main event to be held in Bangladesh in 2014.  The main test playing nations of England, Australia, New Zealand, West Indies, India, South Africa and Bangladesh have already secured their place.
The Irish tournament will provide a chance for one from Ireland Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands and two others from Africa and Asia to join them.
This is the women’s equivalent of the men’s tournament which Ireland won in Dubai in March of this year and it is of great credit to Cricket Ireland that they have been selected for a tournament which is likely to be broadcast around the world.
Irish Cricket’s principal sponsor is RSA who have been involved over a number of years and play a central role in the strategic planning of the organisation.
This win will enable the sport … [ismember] to reach out to a further ‘basket’ of potential supporters and will also serve as a huge boost for development officers looking to encourage young women to take up the sport.
Cricket Ireland’s strategic plan targets sixth place in the world for the women’s team amid programmes that will lead to a doubling of the overall playing population to 50,000.  These are ambitious targets but winning the right to host this tournament shows there is no shortage of talent and enthusiasm to continue the great strides made by the sport in the public consciousness over the past 5 years.
“It’s fantastic news for Irish cricket and a tremendous boost for the promotion of the women’s game throughout the country,” said Warren Deutrom, CEO of Cricket Ireland, welcoming the news.
“Ireland has proved itself to be a great venue for hosting global tournaments, having staged the 2005 ICC Trophy, the 2008 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifiers and the 2010 ICC Under 19 Global Qualifiers very successfully. We’re delighted that ICC has awarded us this competition and I’m certain it will be a wonderful occasion.”
“This gives everyone involved in Irish women’s cricket a great lift,” added Irish women’s captain Isobel Joyce.  “We’re already training hard for the event and while it’s obviously a big advantage to be playing in our conditions, we know it’ll be very difficult against teams of the quality of Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Having said that, we’ve a fantastic balance in the squad now of youth and experience and there’s no reason why we can’t grab the last slot on offer.”
Key take away for Sport: Maintaining representative teams is an expensive part of running a sport and hosting tournaments is an added cost and administrative challenge but in terms of placing the sport high in the mindset of potential players, the value is worth considerably more than the investment.
Key Take away for Business: Women's sport is under valued as a medium for commercial partnership but this is changing on a global scale and will do so in Ireland.  There are opportunities now to get involved at a lower cost than would be demanded in Men's sport but with a great capacity to deliver quickly[/ismember]
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