Leah Paul (born 10 September 1999) is an Irish cricketer. She plays international cricket for Ireland and domestic cricket in the Women's Super Series for the Scorchers.

Leah Paul
Personal information
Born (1999-09-10) 10 September 1999 (age 25)
Dublin, Ireland
BattingLeft-handed
BowlingSlow left-arm orthodox
RoleBatter
International information
National side
ODI debut (cap 82)7 May 2017 v India
Last ODI11 September 2024 v England
T20I debut (cap 46)8 August 2019 v Netherlands
Last T20I15 September 2024 v England
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2015Scorchers
2016–2019Typhoons
2020–2021Scorchers
2022–2023Dragons
2024-PresentScorchers (squad no. 16)
Career statistics
Competition WODI WT20I WLA WT20
Matches 35 46 76 84
Runs scored 919 269 1,990 1,091
Batting average 27.02 12.80 28.84 24.79
100s/50s 1/6 0/0 1/11 0/5
Top score 137 47 137 71*
Balls bowled 533 522 1,733 1,019
Wickets 6 24 33 47
Bowling average 79.83 22.08 41.03 21.48
5 wickets in innings 0 0 0 0
10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0
Best bowling 2/24 4/16 4/21 4/16
Catches/stumpings 11/– 11/– 21/– 20/2
Source: CricketArchive, 23 September 2024

International Career

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Paul made her Women's One Day International (WODI) debut for Ireland against India in the 2017 South Africa Quadrangular Series.[1] In November 2018, she was named the Female Youth International Player of the Year at the annual Cricket Ireland Awards.[2]

In May 2019, she was named in Ireland's Women's Twenty20 International (WT20I) squad for their series against the West Indies, but she did not play.[3][4] In August 2019, she was again named in the Irish WT20I squad for the 2019 Netherlands Women's Quadrangular Series.[5] She made her WT20I debut for Ireland, against the Netherlands, on 8 August 2019.[6]

In August 2019, she was named in Ireland's squad for the 2019 ICC Women's World Twenty20 Qualifier tournament in Scotland.[7] She would have a good tournament with the ball, finishing as Ireland's second highest wicket taker with 6,[8] however Ireland failed to qualify for the 2020 Women's T20 World Cup after losing to Bangladesh in the semi-final.[9]

In July 2020, she was awarded a non-retainer contract by Cricket Ireland (CI) for the following year.[10]

In November 2021, she was named in Ireland's team for the 2021 Women's Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament in Zimbabwe.[11] She played both of Ireland's games before the tournament was abandoned due to an outbreak of COVID-19, Ireland did not qualify for the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup with places being decided by ICC Rankings.[12]

Paul was offered a Part Time Education by CI in March 2022 to allow her continue her studies in Trinity College, Dublin.[13] Later that year she would be named Sport Person of the Year at the Trinity Sports Awards.[14]

In June she was named Player of the Match for her 47 and 1/21 in Ireland's victory over South Africa at Pembroke, it was the first time she opened the batting in WT20Is.[15]

She would make her highest international score in August of that year during Ireland Women's tour to the Netherlands. In the 2nd WODI she made 137 opening the batting, putting on a record Irish WODI partnership of 236 with Laura Delany who made 109. It remains the 2nd highest 3rd wicket partnership in WODIs.[16] Ireland scored their highest WODI score with 337/8 with the margin of victory of 210 runs also being an Irish record.[17][18]

In 2024 she was elevated to a full-time professional contract by CI.[19]

In the 2nd WODI of Sri Lanka's tour of Ireland in August 2024 Paul made 81(101) to top score for Ireland as they beat the visitors by 15 runs at Stormont to achieve their first WODI series victory over Sri Lanka.[20]

References

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  1. ^ "Women's Quadrangular Series (in South Africa), 2nd Match: India Women v Ireland Women at Potchefstroom (Uni), May 7, 2017". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 7 May 2017.
  2. ^ "Murtagh, Delany take out top player awards at 2018 Turkish Airlines Cricket Ireland Awards". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
  3. ^ "Ireland Women receive first ever part-time professional contracts". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Ireland Women's squad announced for West Indies series". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  5. ^ "Women's Squad Quadrangular T20I Tournament". Royal Dutch Cricket Association. Retrieved 6 August 2019.
  6. ^ "1st Match, Women's T20I Quadrangular Series (in Netherlands) at Deventer, Aug 8 2019". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Match official appointments and squads announced for ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  8. ^ "ICC Women's T20 World Cup Qualifier, 2019 bowling most wickets career Records". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  9. ^ "Thailand, Bangladesh qualify for 2020 Women's T20 World Cup". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  10. ^ "Cricket Ireland award new set of women's contracts". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  11. ^ "Ireland squad announced for Women's World Cup Qualifier; amendments made to tournament schedule". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  12. ^ "Women's World Cup qualifier in Zimbabwe called off following concerns over new Covid-19 variant". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Cricket Ireland confirms first professional women's contracts". The Irish Times. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  14. ^ Wolfe, David (10 May 2022). "Cricketer Leah Paul named Sport Person of the Year at Trinity Sports Awards". Trinity News. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  15. ^ "Gaby Lewis leads from the front as Ireland secure upset win over South Africa". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  16. ^ "Partnership records | Women's One-Day Internationals | Cricinfo Statsguru | ESPNcricinfo.com". Cricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  17. ^ "Women ODI matches | Team records | Largest margin of victory (by runs)". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  18. ^ "Netherlands v Ireland: Leah Paul & Laura Delany hit centuries as Irish win ODI series". BBC Sport. 24 August 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  19. ^ Easdown, Craig (4 June 2024). "Central contracts announced for 2024-25". Cricket Ireland. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  20. ^ "Ireland go 2-0 up despite Harshitha Samarawickrama century". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
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