Cricket Scotland has announced an historic, multi-format series of fixtures for Scotland Women against Ireland Women, taking place in Desert Springs, Spain during October.

Scotland and Ireland will face each other in the Women’s ODI and T20I “Celtic Challenge, with five fixtures across ten days, including three ODIs – the first official ODI fixtures for Scotland since gaining full ODI status in 2022.

The series comes hard on the heels of Scotland’s successful campaign in the recent ICC World T20 Europe Qualifier. The Scots won five of their six matches to top the table ahead of the Netherlands and secure their place at the Global Qualifier next year.

Toby Bailey, Cricket Scotland’s Interim Head of Performance, said: “I’m pleased we can confirm these fixtures, which is a reciprocal series emanating from last year’s games where we played Ireland at The Grange for the first time. It’s another first for Scottish women’s cricket, and it’s terrific for our players to have the chance to play fully recognised ODIs.

“This marks the start of our preparation for the global World Cup Qualifier, which is due to take place in the first quarter of 2024. After the recent series in Desert Springs, it will be great to go out there again and make the most of the excellent facilities. We are trying to play an expansive brand of cricket, and we showed that with some success in the recent Qualifier.”

“We’re also attempting to break down boundaries by expanding our programme across the year. While we didn’t manage to play as many fixtures as we would have liked earlier in the year, in some ways to have this series at this stage is a great advantage for us as we build up to the World Cup Qualifier, which will be upon us quickly.

“This will be a tough test for us. Ireland have a fully professionalised programme, and have plenty of depth of talent, some of which we saw during the recent “A” series in Glasgow. However, we also have some very talented players so it should be an entertaining series.”

Craig Wallace will continue in his role as Interim Head Coach, assisted by Joe Kinghorn-Gray and Leigh Kasparek. Several players not involved in the tour party were considered for selection but were unavailable due to injury or club commitments.

Craig Wallace said: “It’s rare for us to play two series so close together, so it’s exciting for us to head back to Desert Springs and build on what was a really successful trip there earlier this month.

“We played some great cricket, but there’s obviously lots to work on and improve in all areas, so it’ll be amazing to test ourselves and try again to play the way we want to, against what will be a strong Ireland team.”

Scotland Squad:
Kathryn Bryce (captain) - Blaze
Sarah Bryce - Blaze
Olivia Bell - Thunder
Darcey Carter - South East Stars
Priyanaz Chatterji - Carlton
Maryam Faisal - West of Scotland/Clydesdale
Lorna Jack - Grange
Ailsa Lister - Northern Lights/Stoneywood Dyce
Abtaha Maqsood - Sunrisers
Megan McColl - Northern Lights/Strathmore
Hannah Rainey - Grange
Niamh Robertson-Jack - Grange
Nayma Sheikh - West of Scotland/East Kilbride
Ellen Watson - West of Scotland/Clydesdale

Fixtures v Ireland (all timings local, all fixtures taking place at Desert Springs):
1st ODI October 17 1030
2nd ODI October 19 1030
3rd ODI October 21 1030
1st T20I October 23 1400
2nd T20I October 24 1400