Kim Garth: 'We can take confidence from our preparation'
Ireland were blown away 3-0 by New Zealand in a three-match ODI series in June – conceding in excess of 400 in each fixture – before suffering a 10-wicket defeat to the White Ferns in a one-off T20I. They then had a much more even contest against Bangladesh, losing a nip-and-tuck T20I series 2-1.
Far from being demoralised by the defeats, Garth says they provided invaluable experience for a developing side bidding for a place at the ICC Women’s World T20 in the Caribbean in November.
“It’s not nice being hit for 400 in three games but we got a lot out of it,” said the 22-year-old. “In Ireland you train and play against the same people all the time so coming up against the best of the best players in the world you learn more about your game, in terms of where you need to be and what you need to develop.
“But you also learn from seeing how players like Suzie Bates and Sophie Devine go about their business – even just watching them train and seeing how they do their thing. The results probably don’t look great but the more fixtures we can get the better.”
Ireland’s efforts against the White Ferns weren’t helped by the fact they were missing several of their key players, but they gave a much better account of themselves against Bangladesh.
The hosts narrowly lost the first two matches to the recently crowned Women’s Asia T20 Cup champions before claiming a confidence-boosting six-wicket victory in the final match of the series in Dublin.
“The Bangladesh series was fantastic,” says Garth. “Two of the three games went to the last ball and the other also went to the final over. We always seem to be very competitive with Bangladesh and, again, we learned a lot from those games, and took a lot of confidence from winning that last match.”
Garth’s involvement in recent matches has been restricted as she recovers from a stress fracture of the back which has prevented her from bowling since February. The two-time Women’s Big Bash League winner can see a silver lining to her injury problems though.
“It’s been a challenging couple of months with rehab and stuff but I’ve also really enjoyed it. I’ve had a bit of time to myself and then just got stuck into rehab and really focused on my strength and conditioning, which was a bit of a blessing as I’ve needed to do that anyway. I also took a bit of time to work on my batting. It’s frustrating not being able to bowl because it’s my main role but there have been some positives.”
Ireland begin their qualifying campaign against Thailand on 7 July before taking on Scotland and Uganda to complete the group stage. Garth insists there is no danger of them underestimating the opposition.
“We know every game is important. Thailand beat Sri Lanka a couple of weeks ago, so we’re not taking anyone lightly. It’s an interesting tournament because one slip up could be the end of it. But we can take a lot of confidence from our preparation.”