About Us

High Performance Centre

Opened in 2018, the Cricket Ireland High Performance Centre is located at the National Sports Campus in Dublin.

The facility...

Cricket Ireland’s High Performance Centre was opened on 13 August 2018, at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus in Blanchardstown, Co Dublin.

The world-class training facility was developed through significant research of the world’s best cricket training facilities by Cricket Ireland coaches and performance staff. Its co-location with the Sport Ireland Institute’s high performance gyms and testing facilities makes the facility the envy of many cricketing nations around the world.

The facility is the main high quality training hub for Ireland’s International senior and underage teams, both men’s and women’s, in the Republic.

The first phase of the facility included:

Five artificial practice wickets with a synthetic surfaced practice area (including 25 metre bowler’s run-ups)
Retractable netting on lanes to allow flexibility in terms of use of the space
A Notts Sport Ultra Grass surface consistsing of a performance pad underlay (allowing a slow and three fast lanes that is dictated by the thickness of the pad)
16 grass practice wickets with a grass-covered fielding practice area allows for game situations to be replicated, for physical circuit training, skill development using drills, and fielding circuits, skills, and drills

In addition, we invested in, and secured grant funding to support the purchase of:

a ‘Merlyn by BOLA’ Spin Bowling Machine; and
a ‘TrueMan’ bowling machine (the first one ever in Ireland).

Phase Two

In 2022 we installed new SISGrass Hybrid Pitches in the practice nets at the High Performance Centre.

Phase Two of the project will further feature an indoor cricket centre incorporating:

changing facilities
coaches zone
meeting spaces
performance analysis area
fitness gym
medical zone
a player zone

Our appreciation goes to our major funding partners on the project:

International Cricket Council; and
Mr Denis O’Brien.

A dedicated cricket stadium

In early 2023, Ministers Catherine Martin and Thomas Byrne wrote to Sport Ireland outlining their agreement to commence the procedures required under the public spending code to allow them to consider a proposal for the development of a permanent home for Irish cricket at the Sport Ireland campus.

A team of construction experts has since been appointed by Sport Ireland to work with Cricket Ireland to consider the scope and scale of the cricket stadium, nursery ground, ancillary facilities and the next phase of the High-Performance Centre including the development of indoor nets at the Sports Campus.

The design team consists of Faulkner Brown’s Architects and Engineering firm, Arup, alongside representatives from Sport Ireland and Cricket Ireland.

Meetings of the design team are ongoing in an effort to finalise the layout of the facility while a twin track process of preparing the business case for government investment is ongoing.