Alana Dalzell named in Ireland squad for Africa tour

BREADY Cricket Club's Alana Dalzell has been named in the Ireland Women's Ireland T20I squad ahead of the South Africa tour next month.

The Ireland Women’s squads to travel in December for a six-match white-ball series, with 19-year old spinner Aimee Maguire also returning to the senior set-up for the first time since receiving ICC clearance for her remodelled bowling action.

Maguire’s return is welcome news for the squad. The left-arm orthodox spinner has taken 25 wickets in 20 matches (across formats) with a best of 5-19 against England.

In further welcome news, seam bowling all-rounder Georgina Dempsey has returned after a lengthy injury lay-off. Dempsey last appeared for Ireland in January, however, missed most of the home domestic season with injury.

The average age of the squad is just over 24 years, however, the squad have an increasing wealth of experience to draw on – four of the squad have over 100 caps across formats (Delany, Lewis, Prendergast, Paul) and two more (Murray, Hunter) may reach three figures on the tour.

This will be the first time the two sides have met since 2022, when South Africa toured Ireland.

Graeme West, director of High Performance, said: "2025 has been a fantastic year for the squad, newly appointed head coach, Lloyd Tennant, oversaw a successful summer with series‘ wins against Zimbabwe and Pakistan, followed up with progress from the regional T20 World Cup Qualifier winning all six games in the process.

"The South Africa tour represents a further test of the team’s development and provides great preparation for the all-important T20 World Cup Global Qualifier in January, some fine-tuning of game strategy and team composition will be critical objectives for the tour.

“While the tour will be challenging, 11 of the players in this squad were at the T20 World Cup in South Africa in 2023, so they have some familiarity with many of the grounds they will be playing at.

“The return of Aimee Maguire is welcome news to all Irish cricket fans, and to see Georgina Dempsey in action once again is a lift for everyone, it will be great credit to both players resilience that they are back and ready to go.”

Fixtures

December 5: South Africa Women v Ireland Women - 1st T20I

December 7: South Africa Women v Ireland Women - 2nd T20I

December 10: South Africa Women v Ireland Women - 3rd T20I

December 13: South Africa Women v Ireland Women - 1st ODI

December 16: South Africa Women v Ireland Women - 2nd ODI

December 19: South Africa Women v Ireland Women - 3rd ODI

Full details will be released by Cricket South Africa shortly.

Squads

Ireland T20I squad: Gaby Lewis (captain), Ava Canning, Christina Coulter Reilly, Alana Dalzell, Laura Delany, Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Louise Little, Aimee Maguire, Jane Maguire, Lara McBride, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast and Rebecca Stokell.

Ireland ODI squad: ⁠Gaby Lewis (captain), Ava Canning, Christina Coulter Reilly, Laura Delany, Georgina Dempsey, Sarah Forbes, Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Aimee Maguire, Jane Maguire, Lara McBride, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast and Rebecca Stokell.