Early history The first mention of modern cricket in Ireland was in 1731 when the Military of Ireland and the Gentlemen of Ireland took each other on in the
Phoenix Park, where the game still thrives in one of the world's oldest established cricket clubs. However, the origins of Cricket may, in fact, have come from Ireland, via the ancient Gaelic game of 'Katty', a precursor to the modern game of
Rounders in Ireland. Katty was exported around the world by Irishmen serving in the British Army and the game was adopted as both a training and recreational activity by British Army soldiers. The evolution of Katty in the empire is reflected in the use of anglicised Gaelic terms such as crioc, crios, bail, googly, still used in cricket as we know it today. The first Irish national team played in 1855 against The Gentlemen of England in Dublin. In the 1850s, the Englishman
Charles Lawrence was responsible for developing the game in Ireland through his coaching. There were widespread calls to establish a national cricketing union in Ireland the 1870s to oversee the sport but landlords who owned the estates on which cricket was predominantly played declined to do so, many believing the game would distract their tenant farmers from working and thus impact the estates' income at a time when the
land war was already depleting landlords wealth. One of those to call for a formal body to organise cricket was
Michael Cusack, later the founder of the GAA. Cusack, was a keen cricketer, later tried to organise cricket under the umbrella of the newly formed Gaelic Athletic Association. His motion, however, lost out narrowly. Consequently, in 1902 cricket fell under the GAA's newly introduced Law 27 banning its members from playing "foreign", in practice, British, games. Until the ban was lifted in 1970, anyone playing foreign games, such as cricket or
association football, was banned from the membership of the GAA, the organisation responsible for games such as
hurling,
Gaelic football,
rounders, and
Gaelic handball. Thereafter Cricket in Ireland declined in popularity, especially in the era after the
land war as the sport became associated with being a "garrison game" of the British Army. Participation became increasingly restricted to Catholic and Protestant public schools, the Anglo-Irish population, and unionists. Irish teams toured Canada and the US in 1879, 1888, 1892, and 1909. On top of this, Ireland defeated a touring South African side in 1904. An Irish Cricket union was eventually set up in 1923 but some clubs refused to recognise its legitimacy. It was only in 2001 that Cricket Ireland became the official oversight body for cricket in Ireland recognised by all cricket clubs on the island. Although the team had lost to the South Africans in 1894 – Ireland's first match against a Test-playing nation – Ireland defeated South Africa in 1904; it was the team's first victory against a Test side. In 1909, the first annual first-class match between Ireland and
Scotland was held, and an annual match against the
MCC was arranged from 1924 onwards. This was the last time Ireland defeated a touring side until 2003, when they beat
Zimbabwe by ten wickets. The Scots and the Irish were mostly competing with
Sri Lanka for the title as the best non-Test nation at the time – indeed, Ireland drew with Sri Lanka in a rain-hit first-class match in 1979, Ireland scoring a total of 341 for 7 in two innings, while Sri Lanka made 288 for 6 in one innings. Ireland, along with Scotland and the Netherlands, has at times played in competitions for
English county cricket sides, including the
Benson & Hedges Cup and the
Friends Provident Trophy (previously the
C&G Trophy). Since there is no nationality restriction in county cricket, non-Irish people were allowed to compete for Ireland in these matches. For example,
Hansie Cronje of South Africa played for Ireland in 1997, as did New Zealander
Jesse Ryder in 2007.
Associate Member (1993–2007) Ireland joined the ICC as an
Associate Member in 1993, a year before Scotland. This meant Ireland could play in the
ICC Trophy for the first time in 1994, and they finished seventh in the tournament. Three years later they progressed to the semi-finals of the competition but lost the third place play-off with Scotland, thus missing a place at the
1999 cricket World Cup. Ireland finished eighth in the 2001 tournament. After this,
Adrian Birrell was hired as coach. Ireland had a chance to play first-class on a regular basis. After failing to progress beyond the group stages in the 2004
competition, Ireland won their first Cup title in
October 2005 with a six-wicket win over Kenya. The
2005 ICC Trophy, which was hosted in Ireland – the group stages in
Belfast, Northern Ireland, the final stages in
Dublin,
Republic of Ireland – saw the Irish make the final, which they lost to Scotland. Though Ireland were runners-up, they had secured their place at the 2007 World Cup as well as an extra $500,000 over the next four years from the ICC to encourage development of Irish cricket. They also gained official ODI status. August saw them participate in Division One of the European Championship, against Denmark,
Italy, the Netherlands and Scotland. The games against the Netherlands and Scotland had ODI status. In the tournament, and what was the team's second ODI, Ireland recorded their first ODI win, beating fellow Associates Scotland by 85 runs after man-of-the-match Eoin Morgan made 99. Although the match against the Netherlands was a no-result, Ireland won the European Championship title. Ireland's second Intercontinental Cup title came in the
2006–2007 competition. They faced Canada in the final and won by an innings and 115 runs, the four-day match concluding within two days. This made Ireland the first team to successfully defend the Continental Cup. For the 2006 season, the C&G Trophy was reorganised to include a round-robin stage instead of being entirely knock-out. Whereas Ireland had only one match guaranteed in the tournament before, they now had more fixtures against English county sides. Ireland recorded one win in their nine matches. Ireland participated in the competition until it was restructured again in 2009. In that time they played 25 matches and won two. The latter of those victories was against
Worcestershire; in that match Ireland bowled Worcestershire out for 58, which was their lowest ever one-day total. It was the first time that Ireland had bowled out a county for less than 100. Ireland were invited to participate in the reformatted competition from 2010 onwards, but chose not to do so, and instead focused their limited financial resources on international cricket.
One-Day International status without Test status (2007–2016) At the start of 2007, Ireland saw more than three months of almost constant cricket. First was a visit to Kenya, where they took part in
Division One of the
ICC World Cricket League. They finished fifth in the league after four narrow defeats, and Kenya won the league. Before the World Cup, the team participated in a high-performance camp in South Africa. Ireland's performance in their inaugural World Cup in the
2007 Cricket World Cup took many pundits by surprise. In their first game, on 15 March, they tied with
Zimbabwe, primarily thanks to Ireland's first ever World Cup century by man-of-the-match
Jeremy Bray and economical bowling in the final overs by Trent Johnston and Andre Botha. In their second match, played on
Saint Patrick's Day, they beat the fourth-ranked team in the world,
Pakistan, by three wickets, thus knocking Pakistan out of the competition. These two results were enough to advance Ireland to the Super-8 stage of the tournament. In their final group-stage game, the West Indies beat them by eight wickets. In the Super 8 stage, they lost their matches against England, South Africa, New Zealand, Australia, and Sri Lanka, but recorded a 74-run victory against Test-playing nation
Bangladesh, the 9th-ranked team in the world. The team received a heroes' welcome in Dublin. After the World Cup, former West Indies cricketer
Phil Simmons took over the role of coach from Birrell.
India were scheduled to play
South Africa in a series of One Day Internationals in Ireland in June 2007. Ireland also played one-off matches at Stormont against the two teams. Missing several players from their World Cup squad, Ireland lost both games. Ireland hosted a
quadrangular tournament in Dublin and Belfast in July involving the West Indies, the Netherlands, and Scotland. Ireland and the West Indies both won their games against Scotland and the Netherlands with their direct encounter ending in
no result due to rain. The West Indies won the tournament because of a bonus point won against the Netherlands. Trent Johnston stepped down as captain and was replaced by
William Porterfield in March 2008. The
2007–08 ICC Intercontinental Cup began in June, with Ireland playing their first match in August. In November 2008, the team's campaign ended. After finishing second in the round-robin stage of the competition, Ireland faced
Namibia in the final. Ireland won by nine wickets, securing their third consecutive Intercontinental Cup title. In March 2008 Ireland toured Bangladesh, playing three ODIs against the hosts and losing all of them. In July, Ireland played a
tri-series against New Zealand and Scotland in
Aberdeen but lost both matches. .
Niall O'Brien is keeping wicket whilst and
Trent Johnston is the fielder. Reigning champions Ireland hosted the
European Cricket Championship (Division One) in late July and they won their third European title, winning every match, including the decisive encounter against Scotland by seven wickets. In early August, Ireland hosted five other Associate nations at the
2009 ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier in Belfast; this was Ireland's
Twenty20 International debut. Ireland would have faced the Netherlands in the final, however the match was rained off and the teams shared the trophy. By getting to the final of the tournament, Ireland qualified for the
2009 ICC World Twenty20 in England in June 2009. Later in August, Ireland were due to play three ODIs at home against Kenya. Ireland won the first game, the second game could not be finished due to rain and the last match was completely washed out. In October, the team visited Kenya for a
tri-series of ODIs with the hosts and Zimbabwe. Only two of Ireland's four games in the round-robin stage could be played, the others were rained off. Ireland lost their first match to Zimbabwe, but won their second against Kenya, though they failed to qualify for the final. In the run-up to the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, Ireland were deprived of batsman
Eoin Morgan, similarly to
Ed Joyce several years earlier, who was selected to play for England, making him ineligible to play for Ireland again. Ireland played their first Twenty20 International against a full ICC member side on 8 June 2009 and in their opening match of the tournament defeated Bangladesh by four wickets and knocked them out of the tournament. Ireland progressed to the second stage of the competition. They were grouped with
New Zealand,
Pakistan and
Sri Lanka and lost all three of their matches. In 2009, Ireland played nine ODIs, winning the seven they played against Associate nations, losing their only match against a Test team (England), and one match was abandoned. Ireland played 17 One Day Internationals in 2010, winning 11 (including a victory over Bangladesh) and losing six. Ireland were knocked out of the
2010 ICC World Twenty20, hosted by South Africa in April and May, after being beaten by the
West Indies and a washed out match against England. 's inaugural ODI in 2013. The
2011 Cricket World Cup was held between February and March and hosted by Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka. Though Ireland did not progress beyond the first round they secured a historic victory against England. Ireland beat England by 3 wickets with
Kevin O'Brien hitting the fastest century in World Cup history, managing the feat in just 50 balls. In passing England's total of 327 for victory, Ireland broke the record for the highest successful run chase in the World Cup. Shortly after the tournament ended, the ICC announced that the World Cups in 2015 and 2019 would contain ten teams; the Associate countries, who were most likely to miss out in a tournament with fewer teams strongly objected, and, led by Ireland, urged the ICC to reconsider. In June the decision was reversed. After the World Cup Ireland played Pakistan, England, and Scotland in ODIs but lost each match. Ireland qualified for the
2015 Cricket World Cup, and were promoted to the ICC ODI Championship, leaving the World Cricket League, but not the ICC Intercontinental Cup. In their first match of the World Cup, Ireland defeated the West Indies by 4 wickets, chasing down 304 runs with 25 balls to spare. In their second match they beat the United Arab Emirates by two wickets with four balls to spare; the target was 279. Out of only five successful World Cup chases of 300 runs or more, Ireland have provided three. In July 2016, Ireland played in its first
five-match ODI series against Afghanistan which ended 2–2 with the first ODI being washed out. In September, Ireland toured South Africa for
a one match ODI series against Australia and the hosts but lost both games. At the
ICC's board meeting in October, Ireland was awarded
first-class status for its domestic competition, the Inter-Provincial Championship. In May 2017, Ireland travelled to England to play a
two-match ODI series for the first time, though they ended up losing both games.
Test status (2017–present) In January 2012 Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom publicly declared Ireland's ambition to play
Test cricket by 2020. Their desire to achieve Test status was in part to stem the tide of Irish players using residency rules to switch to England for the opportunity to play Test cricket. Deutrom outlined the ambition as he unveiled the new strategic plan for Irish cricket to 2015. The plan set out a series of stretching goals including increasing the number of participants in the game to 50,000, setting a target of reaching 8th in the World rankings, establishing a domestic first-class cricket structure, and reinforcing cricket as the fifth most popular team sport in Ireland. Deutrom had already sent a letter to the ICC in 2009 stating his board's intention to apply for Full Membership – a potential pathway to Test cricket – and to seek clarification on the process. Former Australian bowler
Jason Gillespie said that if Ireland got Test status it "would be huge news in world cricket, and it would be a massive positive story for the world game". Following Ireland's victory over the West Indies in the
2015 Cricket World Cup, former fast bowler
Michael Holding said that the
International Cricket Council should grant Ireland Test status immediately, saying "they need to be recognised now". The ICC said in 2015 that Ireland would be granted Test status in 2019 should they win the
2015–17 ICC Intercontinental Cup and beat the 10th ranked Test nation in a four-match Test series in 2018. However, on 22 June 2017, after more than a decade of playing top-class international cricket, full ICC membership was granted to Ireland (along with Afghanistan) at an ICC meeting in London, thus making them the eleventh Test cricket team. In October 2017, the ICC announced that Ireland's first Test match would be at home
against Pakistan in May 2018. Ireland played their first 'touring' Test in India in March 2019 against fellow newcomers
Afghanistan, where they lost by 7 wickets. This was followed by a four-day Test match against England at
Lord's in July 2019. According to the
ICC Future Tours Programme for 2019–23, Ireland are scheduled to play sixteen Tests, but along with Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, are not included in the first two editions of the
ICC World Test Championship. Ireland played England in a four-day Test match at Lord's in July 2019. Even though they bowled England out for 85 before lunch on the first day, they were themselves all out for 38 in the final innings, losing the match by 143 runs. In October 2019,
Andrew Balbirnie was appointed Test and ODI captain and one month later, in November he also took over the captaincy of T20I from
Gary Wilson, thus becoming all format captain for Ireland. On 16 January 2022, Ireland claimed their first away ODI series win over a fellow Test nation by beating the
West Indies by two wickets at
Sabina Park in
Jamaica. On 31 March 2023, Ireland claimed their first win against Bangladesh on Bangladeshi soil in the third match of their T20 three match series. Ireland achieved their first-ever series win in Zimbabwe, after winning a three-match series 2–1 in December 2023. The following week they followed up their T20 success with a 2–0 one-day international series victory, which was their first ODI series win in Zimbabwe. Ireland won their first Test on 1 March 2024 (after losing their first seven), defeating Afghanistan in Abu Dhabi by six wickets. A couple months after their first Test victory, Ireland secured their first T20 victory over Pakistan in two attempts, winning by five wickets with one ball remaining. In July 2024 Ireland beat Zimbabwe by four wickets at
Stormont and recorded a second consecutive Test victory and a first on home soil. In September 2024
Ross Adair's maiden century powered Ireland to their first T20 win over South Africa to share the series 1–1. Ireland followed this up with a 69-run victory over South Africa in the final match of their ODI series, their second ever victory over South Africa in the ODI format. In May 2025 Ireland beat the West Indies by 124 runs in the first ODI in Dublin marking, its biggest win by runs against a Full Member and their fourth-biggest victory overall. ==International grounds==