Clare Shillington's fondness for cricket is a no-brainer. With two competitive older brothers who swore by the sport, it was inevitable that curiosity would get the better of her. Starting out in her backyard, tackling cricket balls hauled at her, Shillington made her way to the men's school team at the age of 12 after her brother pushed for it. Soon enough, she was the one leading that side.
Oblivious to the existence of women's cricket on a global stage at first, she quickly made her way to the national side and now, has 79 One-Day Internationals, 36 Twenty20 Internationals and one Test against her name. An explosive opening batter, who is a veteran of five World Cups and the first woman to reach 100 caps for Ireland, Shillington has swept through a large part of the cricketing spectrum.
"I actually got on to the Irish team as an offspinner," she told Cricbuzz with a chuckle, adding that it is something youngsters in the squad find humorous now because she's at the other end of the nets from where she began. "I lost my bowling action, and at that stage I was batting at No.7 or No.8. I figured that I needed to make myself a proper batter. I was 20 or 21 when I started opening the batting and I haven't looked back since."
A paragon of hard graft and competitiveness, Shillington, now 35, self-proclaimed to have taken the sport too seriously at times and has found the need to relent a bit after 25 years of partaking in it. And why not, on the field or off it, she has accommodated cricket into her daily routine, being a full-time cricket and hockey coach beyond playing.
"Most of us are either working or are in school or college," said Shillington. "Since I work, a normal day for me looks like: gym at six in the morning, breakfast, work for most of the day, potentially training in the evening as well.
"If we're touring, like now, then, wake up early enough, monitoring - weight, hydration, that kind of stuff, eat, after training depending on whether it's a game day or not, go to a game, more monitoring, probably a meeting and then bedtime as early as possible."
The Ireland squad that is in India for the ICC World Twenty20 2016 has players ranging from as young as 14 years old to someone as old as Shillington. It is that wealth of experience and having viewed the sport through various lenses that glorifies her role in a team that she has much to contribute to as much behind the scenes as on the field.
"We have really young people in our team, but most have already been to at least one World Cup," said Shillington. "I coach some of these guys as well so I know them on that level. But I like to think we're all equal when we're here at this level. I'd like to think I'm a good ear to go and chat to and be a helping hand. We're a very open, honest kind of team and I'm sure the younger ones would come and tell me something I'm doing wrong just as easy as I would.
"I've been to five World Cups and will pass on whatever knowledge I can but we've got lots of experience within the team. This team is probably the most balanced teams that I've played on, in terms of experience, talent and having match-winners in all departments."
Passing on knowledge is one thing, but as a senior, the likelihood of feeling obligated to taking up accountability could be high. When asked to shed light if she felt pressure of being a senior, she promptly said, "Not externally, no. I put a lot of it on myself. I'm very committed to what I do and a win is all I'm looking for. If I can contribute to that, brilliant, if not on a day, that's fine. I'm very competitive with myself. But I don't feel added pressure."
Ireland won their first ICC championship - finishing unbeaten - after sneaking past Bangladesh by two wickets off the last ball in the Women's World T20 qualifiers in Thailand in the final to seal their place in the main tournament. That win, gave Shillington the highlight of her career after 18 whole years of international cricket, besides being instrumental in catching eyeballs in Ireland as interest in women's cricket peaked.
"Throughout the tournament, even on social media, the reception was easily as good as it has ever been at home. It was the first time we won a global tournament, so it was a big thing. It's pretty amazing to have a highlight that far into your career. We got a lot of publicity once we got back and we were put up for team awards, individual ones and sports awards, which got us in public eye once again.
"Us coming to World Cups is a big platform for us to shed light on the sport. When the men have big wins, like when they beat England in Bangalore in the 2011 World Cup, you get those huge spikes of interest and that holds true in the women's game as well. It's about getting in the public eye, and coming here we've had lots of media coverage at home and hopefully we'll do well and get more of it during our campaign."
However, given that the women's games, even domestic ones, aren't televised in Ireland, it does pose a challenge to gather interest or promote the sport in a country where hockey, hurling, rugby and gaelic football take precedence.
"It's hard to get it out there and promote it when games aren't being telecast. We have a game against Australia later though which will be shown on Sky. Hopefully, that'll be a big thing and if we can pull off a win over the No.1 team in the world, it'll be pretty good. But it has changed a lot. If we can keep pushing and get to World Cups, we'll just keep putting the sport out there."
Despite being swarmed by cricket for majority of her time, she, like anyone else has her interests outside of it. With wanderlust in her blood and being an ardent surfer, although she claims she isn't too good at it, she is keen on taking up golf professionally once through with cricket. But given that her involvement with cricket transcends beyond just playing it, she realised that too much of anything is good for nothing and that's where the dire need to switch off from time to time became paramount.
"Sometimes it's a love-hate relationship; you put a lot into it and sometimes when things are tough you feel like packing it all in but when it's good, it's great. It's pretty hard for me (to switch off) as it is my full-time job as well. In our summers or season, it's pretty hard to get away from it. It's tough; I mean, I love coaching, but at times it's hard.
"I live in Dublin (with friends) but my family live in north of Ireland, near Belfast. So I get away to my mum's house and take my dog out... that's an easy way to switch off. I also have family in England and some crazy nieces and nephews who help me shut off."
As much as shutting off is important, so is switching on at the right moments. Given that this is Ireland's second appearance in the WT20 - after having played in the 2014 edition in Bangladesh - the onus will not be just on one player but how the team comes together to hold fort collectively.
"I'm a senior and am in that role that needs to perform, getting off to a good start with the bat that can set us up for a win. No matter wherever you are set in the team, you have to perform and in this World Cup, we're ranked tenth and every other team is ahead of us. To do something this time, there's pressure on all of us.
"We need very good days to beat teams like New Zealand and Australia. I'd like to think we thrive in those situations. We played Australia last summer in Dublin and I don't think we're a million miles away from them; we're in touching distance. We were able to raise our game that much so it's just a case of doing that again and going further and putting it all together for 40 overs," Shillington said.
When Ireland kick-start their WT20 campaign against New Zealand on March 18 at Mohali, Shillington will feel the need to propel her side from the start to initiate a domino effect. After all, a good start will mean the opportunity to capitalise further, not just in the context of the match, but the tournament as a whole, which would sequentially propel interest in the sport back home.
