(Reuters) – Ireland will build a national cricket stadium at the national sports campus in Blanchardstown near Dublin that will stage matches during the Twenty20 World Cup of 2030 which it will co-host with England and Scotland, the government said on Wednesday.
The first phase of the facility’s construction, to be completed in 2028, will include a main stadium with a seating capacity of 4,000 spectators apart from practice arenas and a performance centre, the government said in a statement.
“It is really pleasing to see how the sport has grown, at all levels, in Ireland over recent years,” Catherine Martin, minister for sport said. “A National Stadium and high performance centre will provide Cricket Ireland with the facilities required to further grow participation numbers.”
Cricket Ireland’s CEO Warren Deutrom said the announcement was comparable in significance to the country becoming a full member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2017.
“It is a huge tribute to everybody involved at all levels in Irish cricket who have got us to the stage whereby the government genuinely regards us as a sport of national significance worthy of major investment,” he said.
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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