"When we play that style of cricket..." - Laura Delany wants Ireland to be aggressive against Sri Lanka

Ireland Women's captain Laura Delany wants Ireland to be fearless and play an aggressive brand of cricket in the upcoming T20I series against Sri Lanka. The series will be hosted by Ireland and it comprises of 2 T20Is and 3 ODIs.

It will be a tough task for the home side who will face a confident Sri Lanka Women's team who recently won the Women's Asia Cup 2024 title for the first time ever. Sri Lanka will miss their talismanic captain Chamari Athapaththu who is currently playing in the ongoing Women's Hundred 2024 for Oval Invincibles.

Ireland look confident of doing well in the home conditions and is likely to be a fascinating series. Sri Lanka will be led by Harshitha Samarawickrama, who was the team's vice-captain when Athapaththu led the side.

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Laura Delany wants Ireland to be aggressive against Sri Lanka

During the press conference before the first T20I of the series which will be played on August 11, Laura Delany was confident of her squad of putting up a good show. She further mentioned that Ireland wants to play an aggressive brand of cricket and have a fearless attitude.

“I think as a squad we’ve improved hugely over the last 12 to 18 months, and we’ll be going out there on Sunday to put it in practice.I think as a group we’ve shown that we want to play aggressive and fearless nature [of cricket], and at times, you’ll cop the other end of the stick, and you’ll get out for not many runs. And as a squad, we certainly faced that challenge against Scotland," Laura Delany stated.

"We want to play the style that we know we can play" - Laura Delany

The Ireland captain was confident of doing well by playing an aggressive brand of cricket and even believes that it will help them to beat bigger teams. Despite Ireland's failure to qualify for the Women's T20 World Cup 2024, Delany wants her team to be aggressive.

“We want to play the style that we know we can play. And when we play that style of cricket, we will beat the likes of Australia, which we did in the [Women’s T20] World Cup [2023] warm-ups. A couple of years ago, we beat South Africa at home and we’ve won a series against Pakistan,” Delany said.

“It’s sticking to our strengths, and knowing that if we play that style of cricket, then hopefully we come up on the other side,” she added.

Laura Delany on Chamari Athapaththu missing the T20I series

Ireland had failed to qualify for the Women's T20 World Cup 2024 after suffering a defeat to Scotland in the semi-finals of the qualifiers played in earlier 2024.

When asked about Sri Lanka missing their captain Chamari Athapaththu for the T20I series, Laura Delany replied that Ireland are cautious of Sri Lanka's other batters as well.

“We know Chamari Athapaththu is the key player for them. But when you look at their batting lineup, and how they’ve played over the last four-five games, they’ve had a number of players contributing."

“We know there’s not just one or two players in their side, that we’ll have to look out for. We expect a very competitive game,” Delany said.

The T20I series will be followed by a three-match ODI series, which is also a part of the ICC Women's Championship. Sri Lanka are at the 5th spot currently while Ireland hold the 10th position in the rankings.