Harry Tector calls for free-to-air cricket action after Ireland's memorable weekend

Ireland women made history on Saturday when they tasted a first win in the Women's T20 World Cup when they defeated the West Indies by six wickets.

Then, after beating India for the first time in Belfast on Friday, the men backed up that success by triumphing against T20 world champions yet again on Sunday at a sold-out Stormont. It marked the first time that India had lost a T20 series for the first time since 2023.

The wins for both the male and female teams have certainly raised eyebrows and Tector says it’s important that Ireland do all they can to back that up in the future.

He said: “I think a lot of it is on the players to put in the performances.

"I think if you look at the women's series against England in 2024, one of their games, certainly one of them was on free-to-air on Virgin.

“I think something like that was huge because I think that's how you grow it, because it makes the sport fully accessible to the whole population.

"I know there's broadcast rights, deals and all that sort of stuff...but I think things like that would really grow the game and that would be brilliant.”

Tector is currently in a relationship with women's captain Gaby Lewis and he remarked on a successful weekend for both teams.

"What the women achieved was huge and I think it's a big monkey off their back,” he added.

"I think it was a long time coming, they've been playing really well for a really long time.

"I obviously date Gabby, so I'm quite intimate in the whole experience of it, I guess.

"But I think she would probably think that they were disappointed to not win more than once because I think they went in with a lot of confidence, so I was delighted to see them get over the line.

"The weekend on a whole is just huge. You know, you ride that wave of momentum of reporting, hopefully get onto the front or back pages of major newspapers here would be a big achievement. Sometimes you win games and it doesn't even get reported on.”