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Somerset’s reserve wicket-keeper Carl Gazzard who hails from Penzance has just flown out to the sunshine of Perth in Western Australia where he will spend the winter training and playing cricket.Whilst he is `down under’ Carl will be living with Piran Holloway, another Cornishman who is on the Somerset staff, and will play for Scarborough Cricket Club who are coached by Holloway and who are one of the top Western Australian League clubs.Looking back over 2002 the twenty year old wicket-keeper batsman told me: "I feel pretty happy with the way that things went for me this season and I have come back well from a finger injury in the final second team game."He continued: " From a cricketing point of view I did all that was asked of me. I made my first class debut against West Indies A and developed as a cricketer which is what I want to continue with."At the end of the season `Gazza’ was given a new two year contract about which he is delighted. He told me: "It’s nice to know that the club want me to stay. My two years take me up to the end of Rob Turner’s contract, so by that time we will all know exactly where we stand.""I’m going out there to work hard at my batting and when I come back before the start of the new season I want to be a first class cricketer. I know that I can play at that level and aim to put the pressure on Rob Turner for the number one spot. I want to play first team cricket from the start in 2003."

Surrey are yet again dictating terms after posting an impressive first-innings total in their championship match against Hampshire at The Rose Bowl. After an innings of 55 by Saqlain Mushtaq had extended the champions’ first innings to 418 this morning, the Pakistani off-spin wizard took three wickets and James Ormond four as Hampshire were bowled out for 327, a deficit of 91. John Crawley (82) was the hosts’ top scorer, while John Francis made 59 and Jason Laney 48.Kent are in an excellent position against Lancashire after their captain David Fulton went on to reach 177 at Canterbury. The hosts reached 405, while Lancashire’s academy-bound young fast bowler James Anderson finished with three for 88. The visitors’ batting then turned brittle, as Martin Saggers, Majid Khan and Mark Ealham enjoyed themselves. At stumps Lancashire were 164 for eight, 241 runs behind.Bottom club Yorkshire had a poor first day at Edgbaston, as Warwickshire ended the day on 374 for five. Dominic Ostler (126*) and Tony Frost (103) were the prime movers after skipper Mike Powell had made 58, adding 140 for the second wicket with Frost.Somerset’s miserable season continued at Grace Road, where they were skittled for 191 despite 97 from Michael Burns. Javagal Srinath (four for 60) and Phil DeFreitas (three for 35) were the main beneficiaries. Trevor Ward then made 84 as the hosts took a first-innings lead within the day, closing on 207 for five.In Division Two, there was a clatter of wickets at Derby. In all, 23 fell in a day when the leaders Middlesex lost their last two while adding only one run to their overnight score. Both wickets went to Kevin Dean who finished with six for 59. Then Ashley Noffke had the even more impressive figures of eight for 24 as Derbyshire were skittled out for a mere 137. However, Dean then claimed another four wickets and there four for Jason Kerr as the Middlesex second innings came to a close on 150 to set Derbyshire 306 to win. At the close they had taken 45 off the target, but had lost a wicket in doing so.The last five Essex wickets fell for the addition of 95 runs on the second day of their match against Durham, who were then reduced to 99 for four before bad light brought a premature end to the day. Michael Gough is still at the crease, 41 not out, but Durham trail by 364.Two other sides with an interest in the promotion race are involved in a high-scoring match at Trent Bridge. Paul Franks was undefeated on 57 when the Nottinghamshire first innings came to an end with the total on 404. Worcestershire then got within 42 runs of that total and still have four wickets in hand thanks to an unbroken seventh wicket partnership between David Leatherdale (110) and Steve Rhodes (122) who have shared a stand worth 242 so far.Matt Cassar became the third batsman to score a hundred in the Northamptonshire innings of 592 for eight declared. Having held back the declaration for Cassar to reach his milestone, Northamptonshire then took two Gloucestershire wickets before Craig Spearman (64) and Matt Windows (53) stayed together to the close when Gloucestershire were 149 for two – still a daunting 443 behind.

Wasim Akram is set to topple another record Monday when he becomes the highest capped player in One-day Internationals by usurping former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin’s 334 appearances.But the 36-year-old veteran, who is already going great guns, has set his sights on next year’s World Cup – which is going to be his last assignment.”Every match in which I have wore the Pakistan colour is a memorable one. Despite all hiccups and turbulence in my career, it was worth playing for the country,” Wasim said Sunday.Wasim is already the leading wicket-taker with 463 wickets, almost 90 more than his closest rival and compatriot Waqar Younis.”I never played for records. My ambition was to take wickets. But naturally it is nice to have so many wickets in the bag. It makes me prouder when I look back at my career and recognize that I have done something for the country,” he said.Wasim had three tenures as captain and now believes he has to concentrate on his fitness and stay focussed for the World Cup.”I enjoyed captaining the country. It was an honour. But now in the twilight of my career, I don’t think I can afford extra pressures. I need to concentrate on my fitness and form because these will be the two factors that will keep me motivated to carry on.”Yes, there was a time when I was not enjoying the game. I don’t deny that I even thought of calling it a day. But then I am lucky to have sincere friends, especially my wife Huma, who lifted my morale and helped me get back on track.”If you ask me what I desperately need now, then the answer is to win the World Cup. I know how it feels to be a member of the World Cup winning team. If I ever think of a return of my achievements, then it’s the World Cup. I know the people want it desperately and so do I,” he said.Wasim was the Man-of-the-Match in the 1992 World Cup final. He led Pakistan to the final in the 1999 event where his team lost a lopsided match to Australia.”Pakistan is a multi-talented team and in my books, it is the favourite for next year’s tournament. The boys are working hard on that mission. But we need a bit of luck and support of our fan club to realize the dream,” the former captain added.Most one-day appearances (before the start of Morocco Cup):334 – Wasim Akram (Pakistan), Mohammad Azharuddin (India).325 – Steve Waugh (Australia).295 – Sachin Tendulkar (India).283 – Salim Malik (Pakistan).278 – Aravinda de Silva (Sri Lanka).273 – Allan Border (Australia).269 – Arjuna Ranatunga (Sri Lanka).268 – Inzamam-ul-Haq (Pakistan).265 – Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka).

Championship leaders Surrey enjoyed a good second day at The Oval after the frustrations of rain on the first. Mark Ramprakash enjoyed a very good day, for he went on to 210 not out as Surrey made 475. Rikki Clarke helped him add 175 for the sixth wicket before he was out for 79 – one of Dougie Brown’s wickets as he finished with seven for 110. It was a very good day for Brown as well. It was not so good for Warwickshire’s batsmen as they finished on 120 for five.There is no doubt that third-placed Hampshire enjoyed the better of the second day against second-placed Leicestershire. In reply to Hampshire’s 311, Leicestershire made 98 for five on a rain-affected day of only 63 overs. Not exactly riveting watching.Neither was the fare on offer at Scarborough, for followers of Yorkshire, at least. Somerset went on to declare on 498 for nine, with Rob Turner making 63 and Keith Dutch 74 as the pair added 130 for the seventh wicket. Off-spinner Richard Dawson took four wickets. In reply, Yorkshire were 46 for the loss of Matthew Wood at the close.Ed Smith went on to 141 not out as Kent reached 349 all out against Sussex at Hove. Amjad Khan, who had taken six wickets in the Sussex innings, added 58 going in at number nine. Sussex were 114 for three in their second innings, still trailing by 90.In Division Two, Worcestershire are in a commanding position against leaders Essex. They were 332 for six at the close of the second day, leading by 135. Anurag Singh made 124 and Vikram Solanki continued his good form with 56.It might be early to say so, but Middlesex and Gloucestershire could be heading for a draw. After Gloucestershire had made 388 in their first innings with Kim Barnett carrying his bat for 182, the Middlesex openers had reached 98 at the close. Andy Strauss is 56 not out as his side trail by 290.115 from Guy Welton and 88 by Usman Afzaal helped Nottinghamshire to a first innings lead of 115 over Glamorgan for whom Mike Kasprowicz took five wickets. With three catches for wicket-keeper Chris Read in Glamorgan’s second innings, they have reached 69 for three to end the day still 46 in arrears.Derbyshire’s run of success – and Durham’s run of failure -could be over. Durham lead by 264 with four second innings wickets in hand after extending their second innings to 169 for 6. Nicky Peng is top scorer so far with 57.

Taking an early lead can always stand a team in very good steadand India have done well in going to the top of the table in theNatWest tri-series after the first round of matches. There isstill a long way to go – each country plays each other threetimes before the final at Lord’s on July 13 – but it must besaid the performance of this team has been heartwarming. I, forone, cannot see India being the team knocked out before the titleclash.The strengths and weaknesses of the three teams were all palpableon the eve of the competition and none of the sides had a reallysmooth build-up in the warm-up games. But India have been thefirst to shrug off the dubious qualities and play to theirstrengths. This, as well as the fact that the team management hasdone a bit of tactical thinking, has seen them make a dreamstart.True, they still have to maintain the momentum, and to thisextent the path ahead will be that much more difficult as Englandand Sri Lanka try to fathom their frailties and then exploit it.But with the kind of start they have made, India can afford toeven falter a bit and yet make the final. The only fear is thatthey will, as they have done so often, do the early running, peaka little too early and then crumble at the final hurdle.As I said in my preview, this is a contest between three fairlyevenly-matched sides. Despite India having won both their matchesand Sri Lanka losing two out of two, the competition still doesnot have a clear-cut favourite. With two sets of matches – sixmore league games – still to be played, there is still time forSri Lanka to regroup and show that they can win tournamentswithout the services of Muthiah Muralitharan. There were glimpsesof the old Sri Lankan magic in both the games and their bestcould still lie ahead.England with one win and one loss, have a lot going for them.They are a good all-round side and while their victory over SriLanka was convincing, their loss to India was narrow. It was amatch in which they were in a winning position more than once,but full marks to India for their gritty fightback, first withthe ball and then with the bat.

England certainly have looked more impressive than Sri Lanka andat the moment the odds must be on them making the final. But itmust be admitted that neither Sri Lanka nor England have caughtthe eye as India have.Their performance has been a revelation. The batting has clicked,the bowling has risen to the occasion and the fielding standardshave improved. What is most heartening, however, is the teammanagement’s readiness to go in for strategic changes. Twospinners against England but only one against Sri Lanka showsthat John Wright, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid are in a moodto ring in the changes if necessary and not go in with a fixedattack of three seamers and one spinner or two seamers and twospinners, come what may.They have also stuck to their gameplan of having Sachin Tendulkarat No 4 with Ganguly and Sehwag available to open. It certainlywas an encouraging sight to see Tendulkar walk in on Sunday withthe Indians tottering at 26 for two. The modest target of 203 hadseemed far away at that stage but Tendulkar’s brilliance sawIndia snatch back the initiative. It was the great man who ledthe fight back before Mohammad Kaif and Yuvraj Singh built uponit to seal the victory.The young one-day specialists Kaif, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Mongia andAgarkar have already proved that they can deliver and have doneso in the NatWest series again with Yuvraj’s success with theball being a bonus.As for Agarkar, whatever his dismal record in Test cricket, whenit comes to picking the limited-overs squad, he should be amongthe early choices. I have never ceased to wonder why and how suchan immensely gifted youth has not really done justice to hisability and potential.

With the experienced trio of Ganguly, Dravid and Tendulkarquickly into their stride, the batting has bloomed. Ashish Nehradid reasonably well in the one game he played against Sri Lankawhile the bowling of Zaheer Khan and Agarkar against England wasan object lesson in how to bowl at the death. It is also good tosee Ganguly bowl a lot more than usual. In English conditions, hecould have a major role to play.The one question mark hangs over the spin bowling. Anil Kumble in20 overs has conceded 89 runs without taking a wicket or bowlinga maiden. Harbhajan Singh in ten overs against England conceded50 runs without taking a wicket or bowling a maiden. The figuresby themselves are enough to cause major concern. What’s more,they have rarely troubled the batsmen, and the cavalier andobviously pre-meditated manner in which Nasser Hussain treatedHarbhajan does not bode well for the off-spinner. But then he hasalways been a fighter, loves a challenge and one would not besurprised if he bounces back before the tournament is over.

Nancy Harman got Southern Vipers over the line in a tight three-wicket victory over Thunder to give the holders three wins in a row.Allrounder Harman, in her first appearance of the season, came to the crease with Vipers wobbling on 136 for 6 needing 207 – and behind the DLS with rain about. But she beat her previous best of 23 not out to guide her side to victory, and continue Vipers’ unbeaten record against Thunder.Earlier, England A batter Seren Smale beat her previous best of 94 – scored against Central Sparks last season – and bagged her third career Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy fifty but ended up heartbroken after being run out on 99.Vipers chose to bowl first and strangled Thunder in the opening 10-over Powerplay, with Shachi Pai bowled by Linsey Smith and only 16 runs coming.But Smale and Katie Mack got the innings into gear with a risk-free approach of singles and only eight boundaries making up their 94-run stand. The partnership underpinned the innings, albeit not coming at any great speed, as Smale reached her half-century in 84 balls.She earned lives on 53 and 65 – a caught and bowled spilled by Smith and a drop at deep midwicket – but showed great skill to pepper her innings with six fours, all coming in the V.Mack and Fi Morris both fell with the score on 111 within two balls of each other. The Australian was involved in a classic run-out mix-up before Morris skied a pull to give Alice Monaghan the Vipers’ first wicket to pace this season.Ellie Threlkeld was bowled trying to ramp Mary Taylor and Naomi Dattani drove straight back at Charli Knott, but Danni Collins joined with Smale to put some impetus into the back end of the innings.All eyes were on whether Smale could convert to three figures for the first time in her career. She had to contend with not getting a great deal of strike and wickets falling at the other end.Collins – after putting on 41 in a 21-ball 23 – and Tara Norris fell to Smith in consecutive balls. The left-arm spinner ended up with 3 for 19, and the most economical spell for a Vipers bowler for the second week in a row.Phoebe Graham was castled by Taylor as Smale needed five runs in the final two overs. But she only faced four balls before she was run out attempting to reach the landmark and she remained sprawled in her dived state for a while before dragging herself off.Vipers’ reply got off to a stuttering start as Norris hooped an in-swinger to bowl Ella McCaughan with the fifth ball of the innings before Knott ended her run of 41, 58 not out and 40 when she hit to short midwicket.With rain around, Vipers tried to match the DLS target – Georgia Adams crashing a series of straight boundaries with aplomb. But Abi Norgrove advancing and getting castled to make it 46 for 3, saw DLS rocket from 52 to 70.Adams and Georgia Elwiss put Vipers comfortably ahead of the rate with a partnership oozing in quality before Elwiss was strangled down the leg-side and Emily Windsor was beaten for pace by Graham.Adams reached her 50 in 62 balls – her 15th half-century – but top-edged Dattani behind to swing things back to the visitors. Then Rhianna Southby, Harman and Monaghan scored the last 72 runs to guide Vipers to victory with 39 balls to spare.

Queensland Premier Cricket will provide a chance for some New South Wales players to gain valuable match time this weekend while confirmation is awaited over when their domestic season will start amid the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.A number of New South Wales names had been playing in the NT Strike League in Darwin during July and August and opted to travel into Queensland after the tournament rather than back to their locked down home state.Matthew Gilkes (Northern Suburbs), Jason Sangha (Valley) and Jack Edwards (Redlands), who all ended last season in the New South Wales Sheffield Shield team, have found temporary teams as has Chris Tremain who joined the Blues from Victoria last season but did not make an appearance.Currently there are only two Sheffield Shield and Marsh Cup matches on the schedule involving South Australia, West Australia, Tasmania and Queensland with the initial fixture list having to be ripped up due to travel restrictions.Related

• New South Wales and Victoria set to play Shield matches between themselves prior to the Ashes

• Khawaja: 'This season might be even more fluid than last'

• Australia's domestic season start delayed by Covid-19 challenges

• Eye on the Ashes (hopefully): who could push their Test claims in the Sheffield Shield?

New South Wales and Victoria are still trying to find a state where they can quarantine then prepare to play with South Australia understood to be the likely location with an aim of starting their season in late October.Although New South Wales is likely to hit key vaccination targets next month – and Victoria a short while later – travel in and out of the states is likely to remain restricted.There had been hope of playing six rounds of Sheffield Shield before the Big Bash starts in early December but that now looks unlikely which will have a knock-on effect on Australia’s Ashes preparations.The aim is still to run the BBL as the intended home-and-away schedule although there may need to be amendments to that. The first two weeks of the WBBL, which starts on October, have been moved entirely to Tasmania. Players, staff and officials from Victoria and New South Wales arrived on Friday to begin their two weeks quarantine.

Smriti Mandhana and Harmanpreet Kaur will play no further part in the Hundred. While Mandhana, of Southern Brave, will fly back home to spend time with her family before the India Women’s tour of Australia next month – and will be replaced by Ireland’s Gaby Lewis – Manchester Originals’ Harmanpreet has a quad injury. Her team will not replace her.”I would love to be able to stay with the team until the final but we’ve been away from home for a long time with more tours ahead,” Mandhana said in a statement.” I’ll be watching the team at Lord’s and hoping they can continue our good form. It’s been a fantastic competition to be involved in and I’ve really enjoyed it.”Mandhana’s final innings was her best when, on Wednesday, she hit a 52-ball 78 to lead Brave to victory over Welsh Fire. Overall, she scored 167 runs from seven innings at a strike rate of 133.60. Harmanpreet, meanwhile, aggregated 104 runs from three innings, striking at 109.47.Shafali Verma (Birmingham Phoenix), Deepti Sharma (London Spirit) and the tournament’s top run-getter at the moment, Jemimah Rodrigues (Northern Superchargers), are the other Indians in the fray.The Indian players who are in the squad for the tour of Australia – one day-night Test and three ODIs and T20Is each, between September 19 and October 11 – reached Bengaluru on Tuesday and are currently in quarantine before taking part in a pre-tour camp. The players who are part of the Hundred are expected to join them after the end of the tournament on August 21 before travelling together to Australia.There has been a change in the men’s Hundred competition too, where an injury to Wahab Riaz has led to a comeback for Marchant de Lange at Trent Rockets. Curiously, de Lange was released by the team just last week when Wahab, whose participation in the tournament was delayed because of visa-related issues, was finally available for selection.De Lange was one of the bowling stars of the early bit of the competition, with eight wickets from three games, before Wahab joined the team. But he left when Wahab returned to the UK after being forced to go back to Pakistan – he didn’t have a valid work permit – and sort the matter out, and then return to link up with his team.ESPNcricinfo understands that Trent Rockets will also be without Luke Wood for the final stages of the Hundred after he suffered a side strain. The ECB confirmed on Thursday night that Saqib Mahmood would be released from England’s Test squad to play for Oval Invincibles against London Spirit on Saturday.

Haseeb Hameed has been urged not to rest on his laurels following the impressive start to his Test career. While praising Hameed’s “remarkable” second-innings half-century in Mohali, Joe Root also encouraged his young colleague to respond to his early success by working ever harder.Having received widespread acclaim at the end of the Mohali Test – not least from India’s captain, Virat Kohli – Hameed now returns to England for an operation on his hand following a serious break of his little finger. But any danger that he might let the praise go to his head – and, to be fair, it doesn’t seem as if there was much danger – will have been dispelled by Root’s gentle words of warning and encouragement.”The only advice I gave was, make sure you don’t go back to county cricket at the start of the summer and rest on your laurels,” Root said. “Don’t think: I’m a Test cricketer now.”It’s an opportunity to prove to everyone in county cricket that you are there for a reason. You have opportunities to make some really big scores, to keep learning and to keep improving. He has the opportunity to put the good work he has done in India into his game and continue to develop the way he has done.”Root’s words are both well-intentioned and wise. As he found after an encouraging start to his own career, Test cricket is hugely demanding and the pain of being dropped at the end of the Ashes tour of 2013-14 continues to motivate him.So while Hameed’s start has been exciting, Root wants him to be ready for the challenges ahead and to know there is much, much more to achieve. He also warned that more will be expected of Hameed now and that will bring different challenges.Still, Hameed returns to England having made an excellent impression. It is not so much the runs he scored – two half-centuries in six innings does not look so special, after all – but the composure with which he batted under pressure and in conditions in which his colleagues have struggled. Aged 19, he already looks one of the more composed batsmen in the side.”The way he played with a broken hand the other day was remarkable,” Root said. “For such a young lad to show composure, to manipulate the strike and also hit some of the best spinners in the world for boundaries was very, very impressive.”For a 19-year-old lad to come into this environment and be so composed and mature… You watch him practice, and you would think he had played 60 or 70 games. It’s great to see someone come in with that attitude and hopefully, that stays with him for a long time.”He will have different expectations in the future and that might be a different challenge. But he has got a very good head on his shoulders and he should be proud of what he has done so far. Now it is about managing those expectations and being realistic: it’s going to take time to keep developing and it might not always go how he wants. But sometimes you have to have those little tumbles to get right to the top. I’m sure that if he does have some hard times, he’ll get through it.”It is revealing to study Hameed’s dismissals. Of the five of them, one was a run-out (for which he was largely blameless), one came as he tried to up the pace in a bid to set up a declaration in Rajkot, one came when he was the victim of a shooter in Vizag – a truly unplayable ball – and another came when he received a delivery that reared off a length in Mohali. There were one or two signs of weakness, mainly against the short ball, but his figures do not flatter him. He looked assured, elegant and ready.The ECB undertook some research a few years ago that underlined the impression that players who do well do so at the start of their Test career.There are notable exceptions either way, of course – Graham Gooch suffered a ‘pair’ on debut; David Lloyd had an average of 260 after two Tests – but it might be telling that, of the last England side to reach No. 1 in the Test rankings, four of the batsmen (Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior) made centuries on debut and two others (Kevin Pietersen and Ian Bell) made half-centuries. One of the bowlers (James Anderson) took a five-for on Test debut, too, while another (Graeme Swann) too two wickets in his first over.The confidence of those early experiences may well have laid the path to subsequent success. Whichever way you look at it, Hameed would appear to have a bright future.

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.