Cricket Ireland have unveiled plans for the first dedicated outdoor cricket training complex in Ireland, giving top performers of both sexes and all ages the best facilities to help develop their skills on the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus.

The Cricket Ireland Performance Centre will mean that cricket becomes the latest sport to join the Sport Ireland site at Blanchardstown in Dublin. The development will feature 14 grass nets, five artificial pull-out bays, a 90m outfield, plus seating and storage areas.

The €600,000 development has been made possible thanks to support from the ICC, the Irish Government and Sport Ireland and a personal benefactor, Denis O'Brien.

"The development of Cricket Ireland's first-ever dedicated outdoor training centre is a huge step forward for Irish cricket," said Cricket Ireland CEO Warren Deutrom.

"For the first time, our performance squads - male and female, senior and junior, national, provincial and academy - will be able to train on a day-to-day basis in a state-of-the-art facility controlled by Cricket Ireland.

"We are grateful to the Government and Sport Ireland for providing us with the land, and to the ICC which is clearly increasing its support for Ireland's aspirations - by granting first-class status to our Hanley Energy Inter-provincial competition; through our elevation to the 12-team ODI structure; and by granting an additional $500k in 2016 and 2017 to help us afford the matches.

Deutrom also lauded the individual involvement of Denis O'Brien, an Irish billionaire and media mogul.

"I would also like to extend our particular gratitude to Denis O'Brien, who continues to play a vital, yet unheralded role, in the growth of Irish cricket," he said. "For the last 10 years Denis has always been ready to answer our call - from supporting our team in the Caribbean World Cup in 2007 and then our first cohort of contracted players, to helping us stage our major matches and, now, helping us build our first outdoor performance centre. He has played a central role in helping us punch above our weight on the world stage and, for this, we are enormously grateful."

Sport Ireland Chief Executive, John Treacy welcomed the new development saying: "Earlier this year Cricket Ireland launched an ambitious strategic plan which aims to make cricket mainstream, and the development of these world class training facilities at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus will assist this objective as the sport continues to grow."

Cricket Ireland performance director, Richard Holdsworth, explained the rationale behind the new development, saying: "There is a pressing requirement for such a facility to be built to service our increasing number of performance teams, as we found existing clubs are already overstretched in terms of hosting Cricket Ireland activity due to the impressive growth in participation figures in recent years.

The facility will also provide a training venue for touring overseas teams; New Zealand, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and West Indies will visit Ireland in 2017.

"We have found that access to high-quality outdoor facilities has been a consistent theme emerging from the last two post-World Cup reviews," Holdsworth said. "We have previously announced warm-weather outdoor plans for the La Manga Club Development (which is almost complete) and this home-based facility will augment that perfectly.

"We already have four ODI-accredited facilities in Ireland, but no quality outdoor training facilities so this will remedy that."

Work on the new facility is expected to start subject to the necessary planning permissions in early 2017 with the artificial area being completed ahead of the season and the grass nets operational in 2018.