Ireland v Scotland: Ireland captain Laura Delany relishing prospects of Spain series

Ireland have never previously played Scotland in a one-day international

Captain Laura Delany will extend her Ireland women's caps record in the series against Scotland in Spain which starts on Tuesday and looks set to prolong her career for some time yet.

Delany is the squad's most-capped player by a distance after Mary Waldron and Shauna Kavanagh both retired.

But the skipper says she is "loving" the squad atmosphere at the moment.

"I feel like I've got a new wave of energy with all the young players in the squad," said 30-year-old Delany.

The Dubliner became Ireland's caps record holder by making her 185th appearance in a game against the Netherlands in August, with her contests including 95 T20 matches and 54 one-day internationals.

"I'm not going to be playing cricket for ever so I want to enjoy every opportunity that I have to go out there and wear the green jersey, but also lead the team, which is a huge honour," added Delany.

"To be on a professional contract where we can go in and train, working on our weaknesses and become better, both physically and mentally, and to try and improve our game as much as we can is something that I'm really relishing."

Bready's Alana Dalzell has been recalled to the Ireland team for the Scotland series in Spain

Youngsters in the squad for the Scotland games include Delany's 19-year-old Leinster club-mate, wicketkeeper-batter Joanna Loughran, who has been called up for the first time, while Bready's Alana Dalzell returns to the squad for the first time since the South Africa series in June 2022.

The series in Desert Springs in Almeria sees the teams meeting in one-day internationals on 17, 19 and 21 October before T20 contests on 23 and 24 October.

"We haven't played Scotland in an ODI format before, it's their first ever appearance in that format but as a squad we're ready and looking forward to it," added Delany.

"The weather over there looks pretty good at the moment.

"We've been to Desert Springs a few times before - most recently back in January for a warm-up camp ahead of the World Cup - but we haven't actually played a series there."

2023 a year of 'mixed results'

Ireland's busy 2023 began with their appearance at the World Cup in South Africa where they produced creditable displays despite losing all their games to Pakistan, India, England and West Indies.

A Caribbean tour in late June and early July saw the Irish lose 2-0 to West Indies in ODIs before a 3-0 T20 series defeat after the tourists suffered an agonising final-ball two-wicket defeat in the opener.

Australia proved too strong for Ireland as they earned a dominant 2-0 ODI series win at Clontarf in late July, but the Irish women bounced back by beating the Netherlands 2-0 and 3-0 in respective ODI and T20 series in Amstelveen.

"2023 has been a year of mixed results," said Delany.

"We won the Netherlands series, which was brilliant. We had a good series against Australia - maybe not in terms of results - but things that we've been working on as a squad, and seeing some younger players go out and take on real ownership with the bat and ball.

"We were obviously slightly disappointed to have come so close against the West Indies over in the Caribbean and to not pull off a win or two."