Ireland's Laura Delany returns to fitness ahead of Bangladesh tour

Former Ireland captain Laura Delany has returned to full fitness ahead of the Bangladesh tour later this month. Delany sustained an ankle injury during the T20I series against Sri Lanka in August, which forced her to miss the rest of the home summer matches against Sri Lanka and England.

Speaking about her rehab from that ankle injury at the High-Performance Centre in Abbotstown, Delany mentioned that she was aiming to start bowling full tilt soon along with her full runup.

“Things are going really well. I am hoping to be back bowling off a full run-up soon and that I am given the go ahead to get back into full training and hopefully playing very soon,” Delany said.

“It is excellent news that Laura is returning to full fitness. She is one of our best and most experienced players. Her ability to bat in the top six and bowl at different stages of the game helps to balance our team nicely in both formats. She is also one of the few players in our group that has played in Bangladesh previously and that experience will be invaluable to this very young team," Head coach Ed Joyce spoke about the value of Delany to the squad.

“We will have to be mindful that Laura is returning from a serious injury and therefore hasn’t had game time for several months. There is an important tour to India in January as well as World Cup qualifiers in March ‘25. We need to give her the best chance of being fit and available to play in these, so we will be monitoring her loads closely over the next few months with this in mind,” he further added.

Laura Delany stepped down from Ireland's Captaincy recently

Delany, who recently finished her tenure as captain, was just 23 years old when she took over the captaincy of Ireland. She led the senior squad through a period of unprecedented change not just for the women’s game in Ireland, but also around the world. As Ireland’s longest-serving captain, she has overseen the evolution of the game in Ireland and an almost complete change in personnel within the dressing room. Of the players that played the first game she led as captain against South Africa in 2016, only Delany and Gaby Lewis, her successor, remain.

“The first thing that stands out was beating South Africa at home in my first series as captain. We’ve beaten Sri Lanka, away series wins against Zimbabwe and Pakistan stand out, and having the opportunity to lead Ireland in two T20 World Cups in the West Indies and South Africa was really special,” she said about her captaincy tenure.

Delany’s time at the helm will also be remembered for the challenges the team had to overcome, one of which was the Covid-19 pandemic.

Also Read: Gaby Lewis replaces Laura Delany as Ireland captain

“I feel like covid feels like such a distant memory. I don’t look back at it and think it was an incredibly tough time as a leader. It was a different experience, and we had to find ways to navigate that and I know personally I leaned a lot on Anne-Marie Kennedy who was our sports psychologist at the time," the former Ireland skipper continued.

 “I do remember fitness sessions, video footage sessions, sports psychology sessions over zoom, but I suppose it was when we were coming back to playing games, that was probably the trickiest part. There were a lot of covid tests before we got on a flight or before we went into camp, and then hoping that they were all negative throughout the camp. Our downtime looked very different, and we were very restricted in what we could do. It definitely felt very claustrophobic at times, but I think we made the best of the situation,” Delany mentioned.

But possibly the most significant part of Delany’s tenure was the senior squad’s move from entirely amateur to almost entirely professional. Navigating the evolution of an amateur squad with just six players on part-time contracts to a squad with 12 full-time players and as many more on education and retainer contracts was no easy feat.

“I think it’s crazy to look back and think of where the team was when I first took on the captaincy. We had players that were working full-time, in school or in college and we’d meet very early in the morning, be it 6 or 7 am, to go out and do our gym sessions. You’d then go about your day and then meet back in North County in the evening to have a skills session, and that’s pretty much what our weekdays looked like when we were building up to any series or any tournament," she elaborated further.

“We were all there because we wanted to be there, we wanted to play for Ireland, and we wanted to be the best that we could, and I believe that those players paved the way for where the team is now and the support that we have. That increased support looks like having a full-time video analyst, Jay Shelat, and he is someone as a captain that I have spent a lot of time working with. But to see that every player in the squad has a contract, be it full-time, part-time or a summer retainer is brilliant. I think there is definitely work to be done there in terms of parity with the men, but the ICA (Irish Cricketers Association) are working incredibly hard, and I have no doubt that in time we will get there,” the senior Irish player stated.

Captaining Ireland is not something that can be done alone, it requires lots of support from family, friends, coaches and staff and Delany is so appreciative of the people she has had the opportunity to play and work with along the way.

“As I have already said, I thoroughly enjoyed leading the team and it is sad - it’s nearly like the end of one chapter and there are a lot of people that I would like to thank: those in Cricket Ireland who have trusted me with the role in the last eight years; all my coaches and support staff that I have worked with during my tenure; my teammates, past and present," the 31-year-old expressed her brewing thoughts ahead.

“I have been so lucky to have been able to captain people who are super hard-working, committed and just good people and I really appreciate their support and respect. I want to thank the senior members of the team who were there when I first took on the captaincy for their guidance and support. To my club Leinster, to my family, to my friends, they’ve always had my back. I’m incredibly grateful for the support I’ve had over the years, and I sincerely thank them for that,” Delany concluded.