A 10-year deal has been made for the new competition.

Ireland's cricket team will play a historic four-day Test against England next year.

Ireland's inaugural Test managed to attract Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger to Malahide, and the hope now is domestic interest will ensure the game becomes a "major sport" within a decade.

Ireland's inaugural Test against Pakistan has been scheduled for May 11-15 at a venue still to be determined.

Ireland will play Pakistan on home soil in May in their first ever Test match.

Ireland have been awarded Test status and given full member status following a meeting of the International Cricket Council [ICC], the sport’s governing body, in London yesterday.

In all those years of success following that incredible 2007 World Cup win over Pakistan, there was a sense that the Irish sporting public couldn’t quite get their head around the fact they had a cricket team that was taking on and beating the best teams in the world.

Ireland could make their Test cricket debut as early as next year, after the International Cricket Council approved a new constitution that outlines a Test pathway for associate teams.

When Cricket South Africa announced last November that they had invited Ireland to play two one-day internationals in Benoni ahead of their series against Australia in September 2016, there was some quiet jubilation in Irish cricketing circles.

Vice-captain Kevin O’Brien has been named in the Ireland squad to tour Zimbabwe and Namibia in October.

Cricket Ireland will appoint New Zealander John Bracewell as their new head coach in the next few days. He will replace Trinidadian Phil Simmons, who left in March to become head coach of the West Indies.

Before the World Cup, Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said that it would be a "failure" if Ireland missed out on the quarter-finals.

Cricket Ireland has condemned the “contemptuous” mocking of World Cup star John Mooney in a Zimbabwean newspaper.

Ireland’s quest to cure their chronic lack of games against full-member nations could take them to Pakistan after confirmation talks have re-opened over a possible tour of the strife-torn nation.

When Ireland attempt to make it three wins from three Cricket World Cup games against South Africa in the early hours of tomorrow morning (3.30am Irish time), they will come across a man who did much to lift Ireland to their position today.

When Ireland take the field against the West Indies in their first match of the 2015 ICC World Cup in New Zealand on Monday (Sunday, 10pm Irish time), they will be cheered on by more than the handful of green onesied or leprechaun-costumed travelling fans in the 5,000 crowd at the Saxton Oval, Nelson. 

Ireland will join the top tier of one day cricket after gaining approval from the International Cricket Council yesterday.

Tourism Ireland were today announced as sponsors of the Ireland cricket team for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup.

You may or may not have heard the news about Cricket Ireland’s rather stunning sponsorship coup earlier this week.

Cricket Ireland have agreed a multi-million euro sponsorship deal for the naming rights for the National Cricket Academy.

Ireland’s long-term ambition to become a Test-playing nation was handed further weight after they narrowly fell short of an RSA Insurance ODI series wins in Dublin.

Cricket Ireland chief Warren Deutrom believes it is important that “the doors remain open” for countries to return to touring Pakistan.

IT’S easy enough to understand why Cricket Ireland is so upset with international player John Mooney’s comments about the death of Margaret Thatcher, despite his subsequent apology.

An Irish cricketer has apologised after tweeting that he hoped Margaret Thatcher’s death had been “slow and painful”.

Cricket Ireland have turned down an offer to host an Indian Premier League franchise this summer.

CRICKET Ireland (CI) have outlined an ambitious plan to become a Test-playing nation by 2020, in an attempt to prevent their top players declaring for England.

Cricket Ireland have launched an ambitious set of initiatives aimed at fulfilling their dream of becoming a full Test nation by 2020.

Ireland have secured another one-day international date (ODI) with Australia at Stormont next summer.

CRICKET IRELAND chief executive Warren Deutrom admits the board are putting in place contingency plans should coach Phil Simmons quit before the end of the year.

IRISH cricket chiefs have hailed the decision to allow the national team the opportunity to compete in the 2015 World Cup.

Ireland have been handed a route back into the next World Cup after the International Cricket Council today reversed their decision to omit the Associate countries.

IRELAND’S cricketers will discover their World Cup fate inside the next three days as intense lobbying continues in a bid to convince the International Cricket Council (ICC) to allow them a chance to qualify in four years’ time.

KIERAN O’REILLY doesn’t sport the sort of tan you might expect for someone just back in Dublin after a marathon trip that lasted 54 days and took in the exotic destinations of Dubai, Bangladesh and India.

CRICKET IRELAND chief Warren Deutrom said yesterday that he was “somewhere between cautiously optimistic and breaking out the champagne” after the door to the 2015 World Cup was reopened ever so slightly.

Cricket Ireland have welcomed International Cricket Council president Sharad Pawar’s decision to reopen the debate about the structure of the 2015 World Cup but remain aware that the argument is a long way from won.

Associate nations such as Ireland could yet play a part at the 2015 World Cup after International Cricket Council president Sharad Pawar asked the governing body's executive board to reconsider the composition of the tournament.

IRELAND’S cricket board will appeal the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) decision to block them from entering the 2015 world cup.

Ireland coach Phil Simmons has added his voice to the growing condemnation of the International Cricket Council’s “despicable” decision to exclude associate nations from the 2015 World Cup.

Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom has warned the International Cricket Council their decision to exclude associate nations from the 2015 World Cup is “not a dead issue” as far as he is concerned.

Ireland captain William Porterfield has accused the International Cricket Council of endangering the integrity of the World Cup as well as damaging the development of the game worldwide after it was decided the 2015 World Cup would be closed to associate members.

IRELAND’S cricket team has been “outrageously” excluded from the 2015 World Cup despite beating England and Pakistan in the last two competitions.

Ireland captain William Porterfield has branded the decision to exclude associate nations from the 2015 World Cup as “an embarrassment” and “a joke” and has warned it could kill the game in non-Test playing countries.

SEVERAL hundred cricket fans greeted the Irish team at Dublin Airport yesterday but for some, all that mattered was seeing Daddy again.