College Park is a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

ground in the grounds of

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and is the home ground of Dublin University Cricket Club. 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, Ireland. 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-centur ...

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 Dublin University Cricket Club 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

; 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 The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

first used the ground for a first-class fixture in 1907 against the touring

South Africans South Africans are the citizens of South Africa (officially the Republic of South Africa ''RSA. These individuals include those residing within the borders of South Africa, as well as the South African diaspora. History The first modern inh ...

. With the

Partition of Ireland The Partition of Ireland () was the process by which the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK) divided Ireland into two self-governing polities: Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland (the area today known as the R ...

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 Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

. 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. Decades later the ground made history in 2000 by playing host to Ireland women's first Women's Test match 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 (ODI) is the limited overs cricket, limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 over (cricket), overs, equivalent to the One Day International, men's game. The first women's ODIs were played ...

, 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 an Ireland, Irish inter-provincial cricket team. They participate in the Inter-Provincial Championship, Inter-Provincial Cup and Inter-Provincial Trophy. The team is based in Dublin and is managed by Cricket Leinster. Hist ...

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