“I know when I first came into the senior ranks, Dells was one of those teammates you looked to for inspiration,” said Lewis, who is currently in Melbourne playing club cricket. “Moving from the amateur to professional era, she has continually sought to develop and improve her game, and I look forward to playing alongside Dells on many more occasions as we move into the next stage of our team’s development.”
Lewis made his debut for Ireland when he was just 13 years old. She is their highest run-scorer with a total of 3,742 at 28.95 in formats with two centuries and 21 half-centuries. The 23-year-old has also captained her country on 12 occasions and can now go full-time ahead of tours to Bangladesh and Bharat in November and January respectively.
“I’m delighted to have been asked to be Ireland women’s captain permanently,” Lewis said. “I really enjoyed acting in the role over the summer and am really excited about the young talent coming into the system. While we are a young team, results over the last few years have shown that we can compete with the best.”
“I have had the privilege of working closely with Laura for the past five years,” Joyce said, “and I have deep respect for the work she has done, both on and off the field.
“Not only has she led the team through the transition from rookie to pro generation, but the fantastic support she provided to the team during the Covid years goes largely unnoticed. Laura is one of the most aggressive and I have focused on the players I have worked with, and I have loved each one of them very much.”
“Orla was also given the opportunity to lead the team this summer when both Laura and Gaby were injured, and we were really inspired by how she dealt with some high-pressure conditions during the Sri Lanka form,” Joyce said. “Gaby and Orla together later worked very well as a management team in the games where they both played.
“We have tours to Bangladesh and India this winter, a Women’s Under-19 T20 World Cup and a crucially important year ahead in 2025. Not only will we have another busy summer at home, but there are qualifying tournaments to navigate both for 2025 as for the 50th “On the 2026 World Cup and T20 World Cup, we feel now is the right time in the cycle to give the new leadership team time to settle in and start planning.”
