The Ireland Women’s cricket team have finished second in the T20 World Cup Europe Qualifier after a win over the Netherlands on Monday morning.
Ireland came out on top against the Netherlands in a battle that determined who finished behind Scotland in the qualifiers.
The side had beaten France on Sunday morning to set up the showdown with the Dutch.
Batting first, Ireland posted 111/9, with Eimear Richardson hitting a half-century and posting 53 runs.
Gaby Lewis also put up a respectable 32 runs to help Ireland to a strong start against their opponents.
This left Lewis on 145 runs across the qualifiers – the most in the tournament.
Eva Lynch picked up four wickets for the Dutch, while Iris Zwilling also chipped in with three scalps.
In the chase, a lack of contribution from the batters, apart from Robine Rijke who added 32 runs to her cause, proved costly as the Netherlands fell short of the total by 24 runs.
Captain Laura Delany and Cara Murray picked up three wickets apiece for the Irish.
With the victory, Ireland finished behind Scotland, accumulating 6 points in four matches.
Richardson was awarded Player of the Series after spectacular performances throughout the tournament.
Scotland finished at the top of the qualifiers with an unblemished record, earning maximum points and winning all four games.
The Scots comfortably beat France by ten wickets, much like Ireland did on Sunday morning, to finish with a 100% record.
The French were bowled out for 24 when they batted first as the Scottish bowlers wreaked havoc.
The French batters couldn’t register a double-figure score and Scotland gained control of the contest early on.
For the Scots, Megan McColl was the pick of the bowlers with astounding match-figures of 5/3 in her spell of four overs while Abbi Aitken-Drummond also picked up two wickets.
With a small total to chase, the Scottish women went hell for leather, which led to them losing three wickets. But the target was accomplished after only 2.2 overs, continuing their dominant run in the tournament, winning four matches out of four to top the Europe Qualifier.
Scotland will progress to the global qualifier which will begin in 2022 – Ireland have a chance to join them if they are the highest-ranked team on November 30 that did not win their group.
