Born on 8th January 1981 in Belfast, Clare Mary Alice Shillington is a former Ireland Test, ODI and T20 international player.
Clare made her international debut in an ODI against South Africa in Dublin August 1997. By December she was in Chennai, India playing against Denmark in a World Cup. It would not be her only World Cup appearance, with another tournament in South Africa in 2005, along with numerous qualifying series along the way.
In 90 ODI appearances for Ireland, Clare scored 1276 runs with a high score of 95 not out. She is second behind Miriam Grealey (1412) in runs scored in ODIs for Ireland. She took 20 wickets at 20.60 with a best of 3-34. Clare also skippered the Ireland ODI team from 2003-2011.
In the summer of 2000, Clare played her one and only Test match when Ireland played Pakistan at Dublin. The home team inflicted such a heavy defeat on the visitors, the only record of Clare even taking part is that she took a catch, that of Pakistan captain Shaiza Khan from the bowling of Barbara McDonald. One Test, one catch, end of career…
Clare made her T20 debut against the West Indies in 2008 in Dublin, meaning that her debut in every format was played in that city. She played in three World Cups (2014, 2016, 2018) in a career that spanned a decade. In her 56 T20 internationals, Clare scored 1019 runs, the first Irish woman to pass 1000 runs for the country.