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<\/p>\nIreland Women\u2019s all-rounder Arlene Kelly has announced her retirement from professional cricket as at the conclusion of today\u2019s match against England Women in Worcester.<\/p>\n
Kelly, 32, was born in New Zealand but \u2013 as an Irish passport holder \u2013 came to Ireland in 2022 to experience Irish domestic cricket.<\/p>\n
Shortly after Kelly arrived in Ireland, she was picked to play in the Evoke Super Series and made an immediate impact scoring 60 and taking 3-35 in a Player of the Match performance. Within weeks, Kelly was called-up to the Ireland Women\u2019s side and made her international debut against South Africa on 3 June 2022 at Pembroke Cricket Club. She claimed 2-25 with the ball as the Irish side upset the then World Cup runners-up by 10 runs.<\/p>\n
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While acknowledging that she had no expectations of playing international cricket when she moved to Ireland, Kelly grasped her opportunity and quickly became a mainstay of the girls in green. In fact, of the 117 matches played by Ireland Women since Kelly\u2019s debut, the Malahide all-rounder had featured in 110 of these.<\/p>\n
A medium-pace swing bowler who was renowned for her accuracy and consistency, Kelly took 135* wickets for Ireland across formats, making her the third-highest wicket-taker ever for Ireland behind Isobel Joyce and Laura Delany. Her best bowling figures were a remarkable 5-12 over the Netherlands in a T20I in 2023. That year was probably her best in international colours, as she was recognised with both the Irish Cricket International Women\u2019s Player of the Year 2023 Award and was the ICC\u2019s International Women\u2019s Player of the Month in August 2023.<\/p>\n
Kelly also made various important contributions with the bat, scoring 601 runs with a top score of 35 in both white ball formats.<\/p>\n
In 2025, Kelly was asked to stand-in as captain in the absence of Gaby Lewis and Orla Prendergast (Ireland comfortably beat Italy that day).<\/p>\n
* figure may increase after today\u2019s game<\/p>\n
Speaking ahead of her last match, Arlene Kelly said:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been an absolute privilege to represent Ireland over the past four-and-a-half years and I\u2019ve been fortunate enough to make so many amazing memories both on and off the field. However, the time feels right to hang up the boots and head back to New Zealand to be around my family and friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to say a massive thank you to Cricket Ireland, the coaches I\u2019ve worked alongside and \u2013 most importantly \u2013 my teammates. You welcomed me in with open arms and allowed me to be me. This has been a very special changing room to be a part of, and I know that this group is capable of achieving so much. I will be actively following and supporting the team from the other side of the boundary boards.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaby Lewis, Ireland Women\u2019s captain, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cArlene has become such a special part of our team over the last four years. She came over to Ireland as an overseas player for Malahide CC and I don\u2019t think any of us could have imagined then just how important she would become to our group. She has given so much to us, both on and off the field, and has been someone we could always rely on.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know how difficult it has been for her being so far away from her family for such a long time. Although we\u2019re going to miss her hugely, we\u2019re really happy for her to be heading home and being closer to the people she loves.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can\u2019t thank Arlene enough for everything she has given to us over the last four years. She has left a real mark on our squad and she\u2019ll always be a huge part of our Irish cricket family. We wish her all the best with whatever comes next.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lloyd Tennant, Head Coach of Ireland Women, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cArlene will be a big loss to Irish cricket. She\u2019s been so reliable and handles pressure situations extremely well. But the biggest loss will be her presence in our environment. She\u2019s helped shape a new era of high performance, always looking for ways to improve and make the most of her ability. I wish her every success for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
CAREER IN BRIEF<\/p>\n
Cap number: 108International debut: 3 June 2022 v South AfricaWickets in T20Is: 91 (2nd highest wicket-taker in T20I for Ireland Women)Best bowling in T20Is: 5-12 v Netherlands in 2023Wickets in ODIs: 44Best bowling in ODIs: 4-35 v Scotland in 2023Total career wickets: 135<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland Women\u2019s all-rounder Arlene Kelly has announced her retirement from professional cricket as at the conclusion of today\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-616207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}