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Cricket Ireland has joined forces with Cricket Scotland and La Manga club in a ten-year deal to create a European Cricket Performance Centre at the world-famous Spanish resort – the first of its kind in Europe.
Cricket Ireland has joined forces with Cricket Scotland and La Manga club in a ten-year deal to create a European Cricket Performance Centre at the world-famous Spanish resort – the first of its kind in Europe. Facilities are set to include six new first-class grass pitches, and two artificial wickets on two existing grounds, plus 18 grass and five artificial net lanes – all with 25-yard run-ups. In addition, specialist grass fielding, catching and wicket-keeping areas are also being created.
Cricket Ireland Performance Director Richard Holdsworth explained the rationale for the facility saying: “In line with our new strategic plan and the strong view of our players and coaches detailed in post-event reviews in the last 16 months, it is essential we urgently prioritise the provision of quality outdoor practice facilities for Ireland teams to practise and develop skills.

“As our squad transitions from an event-focused team to a touring team, there is an increasing urgency to provide, particularly out of season, a warm-weather lower-cost facility much closer than the UAE, where we have often trained and prepared for events in the past.

“We will now have a world class facility just over two hours away with direct flights from Belfast and Dublin, which will be available for all of Irish cricket.”

Under the terms of the partnership, Cricket Ireland and Cricket Scotland will have exclusive booking options for using the centre as a warm-weather training and playing base for its men’s and women’s national and provincial senior and youth teams.

Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom also welcomed the joint venture:”We are extremely grateful to ICC for its generous support in underwriting the cost of this facility which will benefit not just Irish and Scottish teams at all levels, but also all of European cricket in time.

“From an Irish perspective, it has allowed us to release much-needed finance to support our own clubs through our new Club Fund to which we hope to add in years to come. Of course, we are continuing to focus on developing indigenous practice facilities and, in that regard, we hope to make further announcements in the coming weeks.”

Work on the artificial pitches is due to be completed by January 2017, with the grass net and pitch areas in use by early spring 2018.

La Manga Club
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Connaught