Ireland name squads for home white-ball series against Sri Lanka

(ICC) - Ireland have named their squad for next month's ICC Women’s Championship series at home against Sri Lanka.

Laura Delany will once again captain the Ireland side throughout the five white-ball contests in Belfast and Dublin, with the three ODIs between the teams to count towards the ongoing ICC Women's Championship.

There is a maiden call up for Alice Tector, the younger sister of star Ireland men's batter Harry Tector, while Christina Coulter-Reilly is also in line for a debut after she was named in the 14-player squad for the two T20I matches commencing on August 11.

Ireland coach Ed Joyce is expecting a tough battle from the Sri Lanka team and wants his players to embrace the difficult task in front of them during the series.

“Every international series for us is really important because we know we want to see progression. It's always tricky looking at results, especially when playing against teams ranked much higher than us," Joyce said.

“Sri Lanka have really improved - we were obviously hoping to play them in the final in the (ICC Women's T20 World Cup) qualifiers, but didn't quite get there. You know, they've obviously got one of the world's best in captain Chamari Athapaththu, but the rest of their players seem to be young and hungry and doing really well. So I think they're both two very tough series for us.”

T20I Squad: Laura Delany (c), Ava Canning, Christina Coulter-Reilly, Alana Dalzell, Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Gaby Lewis, Jane Maguire, Cara Murray, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Una Raymond-Hoey, Freya Sargent, Rebecca Stokell

ODI Squad: Laura Delany (c), Ava Canning, Alana Dalzell, Amy Hunter, Arlene Kelly, Gaby Lewis, Joanna Loughran, Aimee Maguire, Leah Paul, Orla Prendergast, Una Raymond-Hoey, Freya Sargent, Rebecca Stokell, Alice Tector

• Series schedule:

First T20I: August 11, Pembroke
Second T20I: August 13, Pembroke

First ODI: August 16, Stormont
Second ODI: August 18, Stormont
Third ODI: August 20, Stormont