Have balls will travel

Multyfarnham to Madras? That's a long trip. "It's a howl, isn't it?" says Irish fast bowler Davina Pratt, as she recounts the cricketing journey that began 17 years ago at Wilson's Hospital, the Westmeath boarding school, and will take her to the southern Indian city on Wednesday week for Ireland's opening match in the 1997 World Cup.

The 28-year-old from Killeshandra, Co Cavan, flies out to Delhi with the rest of the squad on Tuesday evening and, after Friday's opening ceremony in the capital, travels south to Madras where the team begins its Group A campaign against three-times world champions Australia. Two wins from their 50-over matches against the Australians, Denmark, South Africa, England and Pakistan should guarantee the team a place in the quarter-finals and give them a chance of at least equalling their joint-fifth finish in the last World Cup, held in England four years ago.

Retirements, injuries, family and study commitments mean just five members of the squad who played in the 1993 tournament will make the trip to India - captain Miriam Grealey, vice-captain Catherine O'Neill, wicket-keeper Sandra Dawson, Barbara McDonald and Nikki Squire. Of the remaining nine squad members, two, Heather Whelan and Tracey Skoyles, are still uncapped and three, Pratt, Cliodhna Sharp and 16-year-old Clare Shillington, have just one cap apiece from August's one-day international against South Africa at Sydney Parade.

"The rest of the girls call me the tourist because I've arrived in the squad at the last minute," says Pratt. "It's a completely new scene to me - I suppose I'm a duck out of water at the moment. It's going to be incredible, a real culture shock and the fact that cricket is so big over there makes it all the more exciting for us. I can't wait for it."

Pratt might have been travelling to India with a lot more international experience behind her if it wasn't for a shoulder injury that kept her out of the game for almost eight years. "I first played cricket in school when I was 11, I'm 28 now, so it took me this long to get anywhere. I came back last season, joined Malahide, got picked for Ireland and here I am, it's like a dream.

And how do they feel back home in Killeshandra? "Well, there was a picture of me in the Anglo-Celt in August, so everyone knew about it. I went down home then one weekend and I was in my little local pub and they were saying: `Cricket! How'd ye get in that game?'. They're a howl, they were delighted for me too.

The other reason Pratt stands out in the squad is she's a pilot. "Six years with Aer Lingus today," she says. Which is more dangerous, flying planes or hanging around with this lot? "Oh, I'd imagine the safety record of airplanes is a lot better than the girls inside," she says pointing to the door of the gym at Wesley College, from where howls and shrieks can be heard as Wesley PE teacher Louise Tallon puts the Dublin-based members of the squad through the mill. For Pratt and the rest of the squad the honour of representing their country on the world stage hasn't come cheap. "I'm actually using a stand-by ticket - I'll be there hitching on the runway. Anyone going to India?" says Pratt.

"The players have paid £650 each to go, we `fundraised' the rest," explains Grealey. "It works out at about £2,000 each, £35,000 to send all the girls." Earlier this year, the Irish Women's Cricket Union applied to the Department of Education's sports section for a £15,000 grant towards participation in the World Cup, but received an allocation of just £4,000. "That will send two of us . . . that's a big help," says Grealey.

"This year was the first year the players were allowed write to companies so I, as captain, wrote to 65 asking for £500 . . . and I got £50, out of 65 companies! Now I understand what the union have been up against, I could never understand before why they couldn't get us some money. In fairness, I got replies wishing us all the very best of luck but their `budgets were filled for the year'." So no sponsorship? "None . . . well, we got our water sponsored by Evian, but that's all.

"I'm sure it's the same for every minority sport. It will come to the stage where some players won't be able to afford to play for their country and that's dreadful - if the best players can't afford to play then something should be done to help them. "A lot of our players are very young and they're relying largely on their parents to pay for the honour of them representing their country. But it still is an honour, we won't think about the money until we get home and look at our bank balances."

"The lack of sponsorship is just so frustrating," admits Catherine O'Neill, the team's New Zealand-born vice-captain. "The New Zealand and Australian girls pay for nothing and they get so much support, so much help - it's such a struggle for us to keep up internationally. It is a big possibility that we'll fall behind because of the lack of support - we're fifth in the world now, which is fairly commendable, but we really have to fight to hold on to that."

O'Neill came to Dublin for a month five years ago and "we haven't got rid of her since," says her captain. An Irish-born father made her eligible for the national team and she played in the 1993 World Cup - but she expects the 1997 tournament, which will feature 12 nations, four more than last time, to be "much tougher". "We'd love to reach the quarterfinals - to do that we have to beat Denmark and Pakistan in our group, which we should do. After that, we'd probably get New Zealand or India which would be very tough, we'd have to play absolutely brilliantly to beat either of them, so our aim is just to get that far and see how it goes after that.

"I think Australia will be the team to beat, followed by India. New Zealand (the 1993 runners-up) beat England (the 1993 world champions) 3-0 in England last year, and then got thrashed by Australia, so they look the team in form. India are improving all the time and home advantage should make them strong contenders."

Twelve teams will take part in what is the sixth staging of the women's World Cup. Four new entrants were originally included in the line-up (Pakistan, Canada, South Africa and Japan) but both Canada and Japan withdrew for financial reasons. Sri Lanka, who are new to international cricket, took the place of Japan, but a replacement for the Canadians has still to be confirmed.

The Pakistan women's team, who affiliated to the International Women's Cricket Association this year, have had problems of a different nature in the build-up to their World Cup debut.

As part of their preparations for the tournament a three-match series was arranged against India in June, but after the Pakistan board of control came under pressure from the country's religious fundamentalists, who object to women playing sport in public, they were banned from playing at the Test grounds in Karachi and Lahore.

South Africa could prove to be the tournament's dark horses, having returned to women's international cricket this year after a 25-year absence. Coached by Conrad Hunte, the former West Indies vice-captain, they beat Ireland 3-0 in their first-ever one-day series this summer, before losing narrowly 2-1 to England.

"We know we're up against it," says Grealey. "We have a very young and inexperienced squad, but that can work either way - when you know what you're up against, you can be psyched out before you'd even go out and play.

"Our young girls know nothing about the likes of Zoe Goss of Australia (one of the world's finest batswomen) and we're certainly not going to tell them - they'll find out soon enough." The big dream? "To get to the quarter-finals and play India in front of 75,000 people - I'd love the experience of playing in front of a crowd that size. We played in Sydney in front of about four people in the stand . . . 75,000 would be nice."