A positive approach paid dividends after Ireland were put in to bat in the first of two T20 matches today for the Girls in Green on this the final day of their series with the 3 ECB U19 teams. Alice Walsh and Rebecca Lowe taking the fight to their hosts with Lowe and Aimee Maguire adding 33 for the sixth wicket in the closing overs. England seamers Gen Jeer and Emma Lamb each claimed two wickets. Jenny Jackson strikes in the first over and Aimee Maguire takes the second with her first delivery! But extras are hurting the Irish cause again with seventeen in the first three overs! Shristi Patil gloves a sweep to Abbi Harrison to give Maguire her second wicket and Diya Badge drives Mansi Bhavsar to Alice Tector at extra cover that wicket with her third delivery. England 76-5 but then Gen Jeer adds a top score of 44* to her two wickets and England get home with almost five overs to spare. No surprise that the winning run is a Wide. With the batters having to fight for every run in these matches how frustrating it must be for them to see the bowlers pile up extras. Of course it’s not just the extras themselves it's the runs scored off the extra deliveries as well!

Ireland scrambled their way to 99 bowled out off the final ball of the twentieth over in their final match of the ECB series. Only three of the side managed double figures, Genevieve Morrissey top scoring with 26, Annabel Squires and Abbi Harrison both with 12. England's Legspin/Googly bowler Venus Weerappulli claimed three wickets showing all her variations, while there were two each for seamers Baker and Lucy Randle-Bissell. England's openers the Warwickshire pairing of Sophie Beech and Bryony Gillgrass wasted no time in getting the scoreboard moving. Their partnership was worth 82 before Mansi Bhavsar tempts Gillgrass into a 'paddle' to Kia McCartney behind square. Beech falls lbw to Aisling Lawlor who has a second in the over bowling Burke. Too little, too late Lancashire's Olivia Burke hits 14 off 6 to bring the game to a quick end.

Diya Badge, a Blaze Academy member, top scoring for the ECB side and there were runs also for Scotland's Pippa Sproul while for Ireland there were two wickets each for Aimee Maguire and Aisling Lawlor. And there was a much improved performance from the Irish batting lineup today after they had been set a formidable total by the ECB team. A half century for Annabel Squires and a near miss by Rebecca Lowe. Poppy Walker breaking a 50 run partnership between Annabel Squires and Millie Spence, with Squires going on to post top score and Walker, the best of the English attack, finishing with four wickets.

Ireland Under-19 Women were on the wrong end of a 229-run mauling by the ECB at Loughborough. Three wickets for Bready’s Millie Spence and two for Aimee Maguire – continuing her rehabilitation after a bowling ban for a suspect action – had the hosts in trouble at 119 for 5, but they rallied to make 294. Ireland’s batters were skittled for just 65, with Maguire making 13 and Lisburn’s Rebecca Lowe 11.Next up for them is another 50 game on Thursday against the ECB Team 1.

There was to be no happy ending for the Girls in Green as they came up short chasing what looked like an inadequate Nigerian total. There were late runs from Omosigho Eguakun and Peculiar Agboya, plus that contribution from opener Cristabel Chukwuonye in the Nigerian innings, wickets shared by the Irish bowlers with two for Kia McCartney. The Irish reply got off to the worst possible start, Alice Walsh bowled by Peace Usen without scoring, but with Freya Sargent and Rebecca Lowe adding 30 the chase looked well on course. Accurate bowling by POTM Lilian Ude, Anointed Akhigbe and Peace Usen plus excellent catching was the key to the Nigerian victory that sees them finish third in the group and Ireland bottom.

Consecutive boundaries from Freya Sargent but lbw next ball in the second over. Rebecca Lowe and Annabel Squires both caught sweeping in Reyneke's first - Abbi Harrison nearly a third in the over, missing, you guessed it a SWEEP! Harrison in two minds bowled in the next by Legodi who claims McNally, MacNulty, and McBride in her next - 3 Big Macs for Monalisa. Lots of 'getting out' shots being played. Nthabiseng Nini back and bowls Lucy Neely first up. McCartney run out in the final over and McGee caught next ball to give Reyneke her third wicket. Jenny Jackson’s left-arm inswing traps Jemma Botha lbw in the first over before Ramlaken chops on, two in the over. With Simone Lourens and Kayla Reyneke adding 28 for the third wicket South Africa's win was inevitable ensuring their place in the semi-finals.

Bright start by Ireland with the rain interruption coming at 25/1 off 3.1 overs. Ireland with 35 more balls to face in their reduced innings play tip and run, all a bit frantic. Five boundaries for Alice Walsh in a 19 ball innings before she drags on from way outside off stump. Two wickets off the final two deliveries for Memoona Khalid sets her side a DLS adjusted target of 73 for a place in the Super Sixes. Confident start to the chase by Pakistan but agressive running costs them their first wicket with a TV review to decide if they'd crossed.Two more run outs, good returns well gathered by Freya Sargent swings the game Ireland's way. 30 required off the final 3 overs and no inroads being made by Pakistan. Now it's 26 off 12. Five singles and a wicket off Ellie McGee leaves Pakistan needing 21 off the final over and they manage only 7.

USA recorded a thumping victory over Ireland in what is likely to be the battle for the final Super Sixes spot in Group B. After an inauspicious display with the bat, the Girls in Green wilted with the ball as Disha Dhingra carried the USA to the brink of victory with a 33 ball innings that included 5x4 & 2x6. With the scores tied she was bowled by Lara McBride in just the tenth over of what was in the end a one-sided match. It would be easy to pass this off as 'a day to forget' for Ireland, but it may be more useful for them to make it a 'day to remember'.

A challenging total set by England after being asked to bat by Ireland and a disastrous start to the chase with Freya Sargent running herself out without facing. New batter Rebecca Lowe is almost bowled first ball missing a sweep, Walsh charges up the pitch to run the Bye and Lowe avoids being run out only because the keeper's throw hits her as she attempts to make it to the bowler's end! Then with rain falling, Walsh slapped the ball to mid off and set off for a non-existent single, a direct hit saw her yards short - Madness! Three balls later the umpires called a halt for rain and with only 7 more deliveries required to achieve a DLS result time ran out for a restart leaving the sides with a point each. No prizes for guessing who was the happier side with that result.