Waldron ready for Ireland to unleash 'fearless cricket'

Mary Waldron is hoping that Ireland can unleash their "fearless cricket" over the next couple of weeks as they prepare for their first ICC Women's T20 World Cup in five years.

Ed Joyce's side are competing at the tournament for the first time since 2018 when they lost all four group games.

Waldron was part of that squad but she believes that the younger members of this year’s selection has given them a real chance of raising eyebrows in South Africa.

Ireland start with clash with neighbours England on 13 February in the south-western city of Paarl with group matches against Pakistan, West Indies and India to follow.

"It’s a nice kind of brand of fearless cricket they play," Waldron told RTÉ Sport of those less experienced recruits.

"We’re fortunate to have contracts professionally for the last nearly 12 months. Just getting to hone their skills week-in, week-out and have those conversations around their game and develop the awareness, because they absolutely have the shots.

"It’s just to develop that into game situations but there’s some very, very exciting talent.

When asked for her World Cup expectations, Waldron said: "We’re an evolving team, we’re young, this is our first World Cup together as a squad so certainly so wins on the board would be nice.

"But really just to go out and execute our plans and play to the best of our ability is definitely what we’re aiming for and hopefully that leads to a couple of big dogs being knocked over."

The Dubliner said that the pain of missing out on the 2020 series still remains at the forefront of their minds.

Ireland had competed at an eight-team qualifying tournament with the top two progressing, but a third-placed finish meant that they were eliminated.

"We missed out on the last T20