Running from December 15th-20th in Spain, the Premier Division consists of eight group games with the top four then progressing to Finals Day.
Five teams made up the Premier Division at the 2024 ECC-W T10: Emerging Ireland Women, Scotland XI Women, Netherlands XI Women, Italy Women and England XI Women (defending champions from the first edition of the competition).
DAY ONE
15 DECEMBER Emerging Ireland Women vs Scotland XI Women – Cartama Oval
- Scotland XI won the toss and elected to bat first in Emerging Ireland Women’s first ever game at the ECC-W T10.
- Both captain Georgina Dempsey and Jennifer Jackson showed excellent control in the powerplay and Scotland soon found themselves in trouble at 4-1, 6-2, then 7-3.
- Ireland’s bowlers continued to keep things tight only allowing Scotland to post 56-8 from their ten overs.
- Both Jennifer Jackson (2-5) and Georgina Dempsey (2-11) were the pick of the bowlers in what proved a very comprehensive performance with the ball.
- In their debut game at the ECC-W T10, Ireland chased down the total in 3.5 overs with Louise Little smashing 53 off 14 to take the Player of the Match award.
Scorecard here.
Emerging Ireland Women beat Scotland XI Women by 8 wickets
DAY TWO
16 DECEMBER Emerging Ireland Women vs Italy Women – Cartama Oval
- Ireland won the toss and elected to bat in their first match of Day Two at the ECC-W T10.
- Another aggressive start from Louise Little (21 off 10) ensured a strong powerplay first up, but regular wickets kept Italy in the game.
- Annabel Squires (34 off 20) along with Ellie McGee (14 off 10) helped guide Emerging Ireland Women to 85-8.
- Despite two early breakthroughs from the Irish bowlers, Italy reached the target in 6.4 overs for the loss of two wickets.
- Ellie McGee proved the most economical of the bowlers taking 1-5 to go with her promising performance with the bat earlier in the game.
- Due to the nature of the competition however, Emerging Ireland Women did not have much time to dwell on the loss as they would face last year’s ECC-W T10 winners in the afternoon.
Scorecard here.
Italy Women beat Emerging Ireland Women by 8 wickets
16 DECEMBER Emerging Ireland Women vs England XI Women – Cartama Oval
- For the second time in a row, Georgina Dempsey won the toss but this time elected to put the defending champions into bat.
- England XI posted 114-4 but found themselves in trouble early on at 5-1.
- Ireland’s bowlers continued to create chances but swirling winds made things tricky for fielders especially with higher catches.
- In the second half of the innings, the Irish bowlers did well to successfully bring down the rate scoring and at one point looked to keep total under three figures.
- Louise Little again led the charge at the top of the innings with help from Sophie McMahon (to go with her 2-10 in the England XI innings)
- Regular wickets however hampered their efforts in the chase slowing down momentum.
- Even with Annabel Squires (30 off 17) leading the fightback, Ireland fell short but still managed to claim a vital bonus point.
Scorecard here.
England XI Women beat Emerging Ireland Women by 19 runs
DAY THREE
17 DECEMBER Emerging Ireland Women vs Netherlands XI Women – Cartama Oval
- Netherlands won the toss and elected to bat first early on Day Three at the ECC-W T10, eventually posting 124-3.
- Georgina Dempsey got a very early breakthrough at the beginning, however Ireland’s bowlers then found it difficult to slow the rate of scoring.
- Kia McCartney was the pick of the bowlers taking 1-10 from her two overs.
- In response, Ireland initially found themselves in trouble at 2-1 in the first over, but recovered in the powerplay thanks to Louise Little (20 off 7).
- Annabel Squires then tried to lift the tempo along with Joanna Loughran, however they couldn’t sufficiently take on the Dutch attack to get their chase back on track.
- Despite the loss, Emerging Ireland Women again managed to claim a crucial bonus point.
Scorecard here.
Netherlands XI Women beat Emerging Ireland Women by 37 runs
17 DECEMBER Emerging Ireland Women vs Scotland XI Women – Cartama Oval
- Scotland XI won the toss in Ireland’s second game of the day and chose to bat first.
- They immediately found themselves in difficulty at 6-1, 14-2 and eventually 28-4 with skipper Georgina Dempsey (2-15) causing the most damage.
- Despite spinners Ellie McGee and Kia McCartney going for only 1-6 each, Scotland still managed to post 70-6 from their ten overs.
- Ireland were initially in trouble at 0-1, 5-2 and 13-3 and managed to recover somewhat thanks to Georgina Dempsey with 12 (15).
- However three wickets (and a run out) for Kirsty McColl put an end to the fightback.
- Emerging Ireland Women again secured a bonus point despite the loss which could prove crucial nearing Finals Day at the end of the week.
Scorecard here.
Scotland XI Women beat Emerging Ireland Women by 13 runs
DAY FOUR
18 DECEMBER Emerging Ireland Women vs England XI Women – Cartama Oval
- England XI Women won the toss and chose to bat first in Emerging Ireland Women’s first game on Day Four.
- Ireland’s bowlers had England in trouble in the powerplay first at 1-1, 18-2, then 35-3 however their batters then consolidated to post 123-6.
- Kia McCartney proved the pick of the bowlers taking 2-22.
- In response Louise Little and Lara McBride started well posting 40 for the first wicket.
- Regular wickets however soon slowed down Ireland’s rate of scoring which eventually halted Irelands progress and with it hopes of chasing down the target.
- Sophie McMahon (24 off 13) made a late charge towards the total, but didn’t have the support needed.
- Despite the loss, Ireland again notched up an important bonus point to add to their tally.
Scorecard here.
England XI Women beat Emerging Ireland Women by 18 runs
18 DECEMBER Emerging Ireland Women vs Italy Women – Cartama Oval
- Emerging Ireland Women won the toss and opted to bat first in this crucial group game.
- Louise Little stole the show from the very beginning, scoring a scintillating 78 off just 34 deliveries, aided and abetted by Georgina Dempsey with 42 off just 20.
- Ireland eventually posted a formidable 131-2 with 32 runs taken off the final over to considerably wrestle momentum their way.
- With big runs on the board, the Irish bowlers immediately set about their work with Dempsey taking 3-6 from her two overs.
- Lara McBride 1-6 and Ellie McGee 1-9 then kept things tight to deliver a much needed to bonus point win to add to Ireland’s tally so late in the group stages.
- Emerging Ireland Women would now have to keep an eye on their points tally and net run rate as things got tighter between fourth, third and second place in the premier division of the ECC-W T10.
Scorecard here.
Emerging Ireland Women beat Italy by 77 runs
DAY FIVE
19 DECEMBER Emerging Ireland Women vs Netherlands XI Women – Cartama Oval
- Netherlands XI Women won the toss and elected to bat first in Emerging Ireland Women’s final group game.
- The Netherlands were immediately in trouble in the powerplay at 17-3 and continued to struggle due to tight bowling from Ireland’s spinners.
- Lara McBride (3-10), Ellie McGee (3-15) and Kia McCartney (2-9), dubbed “the McAttack” by commentators had now begun to grow in confidence at the business-end of the competition.
- Ireland’s chase of 79 briefly looked precarious when Little, McBride and Dempsey were all dismissed in the third over.
- There was much debate on commentary about whether Ireland should chase the bonus point win to potentially jump into third or even second place but the batters in the middle eventually decided it was better to secure three points instead of potentially losing in the hope of four.
- By the end of the group stages, Ireland found themselves in fourth place meaning they were to play Scotland XI (third place) in the Eliminator game on Finals Day.
- The patch was now clear: the winner from the Eliminator game would then move to the Qualifier match against Netherlands XI (second place), with the eventual winner of that moving to the final against England XI (first place).
Scorecard here.
Emerging Ireland Women beat Netherland XI Women by 7 wickets
FINALS DAY
20 DECEMBER Emerging Ireland Women vs Scotland XI Women – Cartama Oval
- With dew still around and the sun slowly rising, Scotland opted to bat first after winning the toss in the Eliminator match.
- Ireland’s bowlers immediately had the Scottish batters under pressure not allowing a single boundary until the fourth over.
- Heavy outfield conditions appeared to hamper Scotland as they struggled in particular against Lara McBride (2-11), Ellie McGee (1-7) and Kia McCartney (0-6).
- Another key factor was Ireland’s catching and fielding which constantly kept the pressure on.
- After struggling against Scotland in their last group game against them, Ireland now the opportunity to secure a spot in the Qualifier match against Netherlands XI Women immediately after.
- Ireland then marched to the target of 57 with Louise Little scoring 38 off 13 and securing yet another Player of the Match award to go with her tally from the week.
Scorecard here.
Emerging Ireland Women beat Scotland XI Women by 7 wickets
20 DECEMBER Emerging Ireland Women vs Netherlands XI Women – Cartama Oval
- Having been in fourth place at the end of the group stages, Ireland now found themselves in the Qualifier match just one result away from an ECC-W T10 final against previous champions, England XI Women.
- Georgina Dempsey won the toss and opted to bat first in what was effectively the tournament semi-final.
- Ireland began solidly in the powerplay, only losing Louise Little in the third over with 23 runs on the board.
- Annabel Squires (32 off 24) continued to attack with help from Lara McBride, who was eventually retired out by team management, but the Irish batters coming in still had difficulty finding the boundary.
- With 80-4, Emerging Ireland Women now had runs on the board in a must-win game but would need to make early inroads with the ball.
- The Dutch batters immediately looked to seize momentum by taking 15 off the opening over from Kia McCartney.
- From their Ireland couldn’t wrestle back advantage even with occasional breakthroughs, meaning that Netherlands XI Women would progress to the ECC-W T10 final against England XI Women.
Scorecard here.
Netherlands XI Women beat Emerging Ireland Women by 7 wickets