Dublin has some notable sports venues, such as the Aviva Stadium and Croke Park, but one thing it lacks is a suitable international cricket ground.
This may not have been an issue when the sport was a minority pastime and the national time was insignificant on the global stage, but that changed as Ireland joined the ranks of the elite Test match-playing nations in 2017.
However, until now, they have not been able to do much to get the digger dealers busy. That could be about to change after the submission of Cricket Ireland’s application to build a new permanent international venue and high-performance centre at the Sports Ireland campus in Blanchardstown.
The ground won’t be a huge one, with just 4,200 seats, although there is room to add more on a temporary basis for bigger matches. The venue will also have floodlights for day-night games. All this will, if the plan goes ahead, enable Ireland to co-host the Men’s T20 World Cup with England and Scotland in 2030.
Until now, Ireland has struggled to afford the cost of hosting games due to the expense of bringing in temporary stands to provide more seats for big games, which has curbed its budgets for other activities such as grassroots development.
Malahide Cricket Club staged Ireland’s inaugural Test in 2018, but the event lost money after the first day was washed out and tickets had to be refunded. Since then, only one of Ireland’s Test matches has been a home game, at Stormont in Belfast last year. The game was a sell-out on some days, but capacity was low as no extra seats were provided.
There has also been speculation about a new the future redevelopment of Casement Park as a potential football venue for the Euro 2028 championships.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c8jen...
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ce8207x45dpo
