Irish star on the cusp of playing for Australia:
Australian women are set to meet India for a T20 World cup lead-up 5 match series, which will commence on 9th December in Mumbai. The absence of the Australian Skipper Meg Lanning owing to her indefinite break from cricket and the retirement of the team’s Vice captain Rachael Haynes, have made the Australian women’s team management to rummage through their list of potential replacements for the team’s key players. The series will help the Aussies to find replacement for their retired Vice Captain before the mega event, the T20 World cup, starts.
Alyssa Healy has taken the charge of the team with Tahlia McGrath deputizing her as a vice captain. Besides that, Kim Garth, Heather Graham and Phoebe Litchfield have gotten call ups for the series as well.
Kim Garth will most likely play her debut match for Australia on 9th December. However, this will not be her first time representing a nation on an international level. The 26-year old Kim Garth has served the Irish Women’s team as an all-rounder for nearly a decade, playing her last match for Ireland, her birth country, in 2020. Her contract with Cricket Victoria was the reason she moved to Australia, which eventually got her permanent residency in the country last year. With permanent residency and not playing a match for Ireland in the last 3 years, the Ireland-born became eligible to represent Australia.
The Australian management has had Garth on cards for some time now as told by the national selector, Shawn Fledger, “[Kim] has been in our thinking, she’s had a couple of strong seasons with the ball and adds extra depth to our pace-bowling stocks, She’s a new-ball option but has a great change of pace as well.”
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The current Skipper of the Kangaroos, Alyssa Healy, is also pleased with the addition of Garth in the Australian squad. Talking about Garth’s inclusion, she said, “It’s one of the most exciting names in the squad, She made the move to Australia to try and do just this, play for Australia. The way she has developed over the years is impressive. Her new-ball skills with T20 cricket is what we need and she also has variations through the middle that are very handy. She’s a great addition. Everyone is very excited for her. It’s a big move to come all the way for Ireland to chase a dream, and she’s done that. I am sure she is going to look at home in the green and gold and hopefully she can have a great career.”
The 26 year old has performed clinically in the last two editions of the Women’s Big Bash League, ending as the leading wicket-taker for her then team, Melbourne Stars, in the 2021 edition of the league. This year she dismissed batters 12 times in the aforementioned league at an economy of 6.71. For Ireland, the right hander has collectively taken 65 wickets in 34 ODIs and 51 T20Is.
