College Park is a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

ground in the grounds of

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and is the home ground of

Dublin University Cricket Club Dublin University Cricket Club is a cricket team in Ireland. There is evidence of cricket being played at the University before 1820 but the first record of a club dates from 1835. They currently play in the Leinster Senior League, and in the ...

. A cricket match at Trinity College was mentioned in a poem 1820s between a team from

Ballinasloe Ballinasloe ( ; ) is a town in the easternmost part of County Galway in Connacht. Located at an ancient crossing point on the River Suck, evidence of ancient settlement in the area includes a number of Bronze Age sites. Built around a 12th-ce ...

playing "the Collegians", although whether this match was played on the present ground is not known. The first recorded mention of cricket on the present ground dates from 1868, when

played an All-England Eleven in a non first-class fixture. The ground is where

play their home matches, during the time when Ireland was part of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

; the club held a great influence over Irish cricket, and the ground was considered the centre of cricket in Ireland. The cricket club once had first-class status, it was in 1895 that the ground held its first first-class match between Dublin University and the

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influe ...

first used the ground for a first-class fixture in 1907 against the touring South Africans. With the

Partition of Ireland The partition of Ireland ( ga, críochdheighilt na hÉireann) was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland. ...

in 1922, cricket lost much of its standing in the newly created Republic of Ireland, Dublin University suffered too with the subsequent decline of the sport in the Republic. Nevertheless, the ground continued to host touring sides and English county sides, with 1926 seeing Dublin University play its third and final first-class fixture against

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...

. The ground continued to host first-class fixtures until 1961, the year in which the 28th and final first-class fixture to date to be held there between Ireland and the Marylebone Cricket Club was played. A fire occurred at the ground in 1963, destroying a scorebox which had been built in honour of

Herbert Rollins Herbert Rollins (29 December 1899 – 17 June 1921) was an Irish first-class cricketer. Rollins was born at Dublin in December 1899, where he was educated at St. Andrew's College. He went up to Trinity College, Dublin in 1917, but left th ...

. Decades later the ground made history in 2000 by playing host to Ireland women's first

Women's Test match Women's Test cricket is the longest format of women's cricket and is the female equivalent to men's Test cricket. Matches comprise four-innings and are held over a maximum of four days between two of the leading cricketing nations. The rules go ...

against Pakistan women, which Ireland women won by an innings and 54 runs. Despite as of 2011 still holding Test status, this remains Ireland women's only Test appearance. College Park has also held

Women's One Day International cricket Women's One Day International (WODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...

, the first match of that type being played there in 1987 between Ireland Women and Australia women. To date the ground has played host to ten Women's One Day Internationals, the last of which was between Ireland women and Australia women in 2005. From 2019, College Park was to become the home ground for

Leinster Lightning Leinster Lightning is one of three provincial cricket teams in Ireland. Along with the North West Warriors and Northern Knights it makes up the Inter-Provincial Championship, Interprovincial One-Day Trophy and Interprovincial Twenty20 Cup. ...

for the 2019 and 2020 seasons, though this arrangement failed to materialise.

References

External links

College Park
at CricketArchive {{coord, 53, 20, 34.62, N, 6, 15, 15.42, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Buildings and structures of Trinity College Dublin Cricket grounds in County Dublin Cricket grounds in the Republic of Ireland Dublin University Cricket Club Sport at Trinity College Dublin Sports venues completed in 1868 Sports venues in Dublin (city) Leinster Lightning 1868 establishments in Ireland

See also

References

External links