Born on 29th September 1979 in Dublin, former Test, ODI and T20 International player for Ireland, Ciara Johanna Metcalfe.
Ciara was a left-hand batter, but it was her leg-break bowling that carved out a career for Ireland for nearly two decades from 1999 to 2018/19 across all formats of the game. Her international debut came in an ODI against Denmark in the Women’s European Championship at Nykøbing Mors Cricket Stadium in July 1999. She took 0-24 from eight overs and scored 12 not out which would end up being one of her highest scores. During the rest of that tournament she took 3-12 against the Netherlands and 2-26 against England.
A year later Ciara made her Test debut against Pakistan in Dublin. Her 4-26 in the first innings was the best return, but didn’t take a wicket in the second when Isobel Joyce ran riot with the ball.
The year 2000 also saw Ciara’s only World Cup appearance in her 53 ODIs. During that career she took 60 wickets at 27.00 with a best of 5-18 against the Netherlands at Sportpark Het Schootsveld, Deventer in 2007. She is second on the all time wicket takers for Ireland (behind Joyce) and her 5-18 is second only to Eimar Richardson’s 5-12.
Despite having only played in 25 T20 Internationals, Ciara is sixth all time wicket taker for Ireland with 23 and her 4-15 is the best of all for Ireland and taken against Sri Lanka at Mohali in the 2016 T20 World Cup. She also played in the 2018 World Cup. One of very few to have played all three formats for Ireland.