Barbara Mary McDonald (born 28 May 1972) is an Irish former cricketer who played as a right-arm pace bowler. She appeared in one Test match and 57 One Day Internationals (ODIs) for Ireland between 1993 and 2005, including appearing at the 1993, 1997, 2000, and 2005 World Cups.

Barbara McDonald
Personal information
Full name
Barbara Mary McDonald
Born (1972-05-28) 28 May 1972 (age 52)
Waterford, Ireland
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm medium-fast
RoleBowler
International information
National side
Only Test (cap 5)30 July 2000 v Pakistan
ODI debut (cap 28)28 July 1993 v Netherlands
Last ODI19 August 2005 v Netherlands
Career statistics
Competition WTest WODI WLA
Matches 1 57 62
Runs scored 106 139
Batting average 4.41 5.34
100s/50s 0/0 0/0
Top score 22* 22*
Balls bowled 156 2,876 3,134
Wickets 4 54 61
Bowling average 7.00 26.75 25.50
5 wickets in innings 0 0 0
10 wickets in match 0 0 0
Best bowling 3/9 4/8 4/8
Catches/stumpings 1/– 10/– 10/–
Source: CricketArchive, 1 December 2021

McDonald was born in Waterford, but played her club cricket for Malahide, in County Dublin. She made her Irish senior debut at the age of 21, playing twice in the 1993 World Cup in England, against the Netherlands and the West Indies.[1] Within a few years, she had established herself as one of Ireland's opening bowlers, notably taking 2/40 and 3/17 in consecutive matches against the touring South Africans during the 1997 season.[2][3] At the 1997 World Cup in India, McDonald took five wickets from five matches, behind only Catherine O'Neill for Ireland.[4] Her best performance came in the game against Denmark that secured her team's place in the quarter-finals, when she took 3/12 from five overs.[5]

In July 2000, Pakistan visited Ireland to play five ODIs and a single Test match, the latter of which was Ireland's first and only appearance at that level.[6] In the third ODI, McDonald took career-best figures of 4/8 from 6.4 overs, including the last four wickets to fall.[7] She continued her good form when the Test began the next day, taking the first three Pakistani wickets to fall and finishing with figures of 3/9 from 12 overs. She added 1/19 in the second innings as her team won by an innings and 54 runs.[8] However, at the World Cup in New Zealand later in the year, McDonald had less success, taking only three wickets from seven matches.[1]

McDonald had her greatest personal success as a player at the 2003 IWCC Trophy in the Netherlands, where she was named player of the tournament.[9] Her five matches had yielded 11 wickets at an average of only 5.54, which included figures of 4/13 against the West Indies, 3/10 against Japan, and 2/13 against the Netherlands.[1] Ireland were undefeated, and consequently qualified for the 2005 World Cup in South Africa. Now aged 32, McDonald remained one of her team's opening bowlers, and again played every match, finishing as equal leading wicket-taker with Heather Whelan.[10] She played her final international matches later in the year, at the 2005 edition of the European Championship.[1] McDonald finished her career as Ireland's leading wicket-taker in ODIs, although she has since been overtaken by Isobel Joyce.[11]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Women's ODI matches played by Barbara McDonald – CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  2. ^ Ireland Women v South Africa Women, South Africa Women in British Isles 1997 (1st ODI) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  3. ^ Ireland Women v South Africa Women, South Africa Women in British Isles 1997 (2nd ODI) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  4. ^ Bowling for Ireland Women, Hero Honda Women's World Cup 1997/98 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  5. ^ Mary Hannigan (13 December 1997). "Ireland ease past Denmark"The Irish Times. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  6. ^ "Ireland Women too good for Pakistan" – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  7. ^ Ireland Women v Pakistan Women, Pakistan Women in British Isles 2000 (3rd ODI) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  8. ^ Ireland Women v Pakistan Women, Pakistan Women in British Isles 2000 (Only Test) – CricketArchive. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  9. ^ Peter Johnson (11 August 2003). "Winning the IWCC Trophy 2003" Archived 4 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine – CricketEurope. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  10. ^ Bowling for Ireland Women, International Women's Cricket Council World Cup 2004/05 – CricketArchives. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  11. ^ Ireland Women / Records / Women's One-Day Internationals / Most wickets – ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
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