LEINSTER is fortunate in having several fine grounds. Malahide has always enjoyed a picturesque setting and will be a proud new home for the Irish team. Clontarf, too, has been a picture as it hosted all the greats over the past 30 years, while Leinster has undergone an overhaul which managed to retain the charm of a ground steeped in tradition. The Hills, too, shows that age is no pre-requisite if a club is willing to put the work in. But every ground has its charms, even those regularly dragged up as examples of somewhere you wouldn't want to spend your summer Sundays.
My own favourite is College Park, which was showing off its best last week as the new home of the Leinster three-day side. On a sunny day the students come out in their droves and, while most aren't watching, provide an atmosphere that the club game rarely achieves.Trinity has its detractors, of course, and the space beneath this article will surely fill up with their moans in the coming days, but as a place to watch, and play, cricket there are few like it in the world.
It is sometimes hard to remember that you are right in the heart of a busy capital city, even with traffic racing past the railings and affairs of state being conducted a 100 metres from the scorebox. It’s often described as an oasis, a green lung breathing life into the metropolis, while still being only yards from access to the buses, trains and trams that bring people into the city.
Cricket was first played here in the 1820s, making it comfortably the oldest ground in the land. The club was dominant and influential throughout most of the 19th century, and most of the major fixtures were staged there.
DUCC itself saw the benefit of its location and made a steady income by inviting professional sides over. Every season from 1870 to 1926 it played host to a county (11 of the 16 then), a professional XI, or even a touring test nation. Australia took on the students in 1880 and 1904; while South Africa provided opposition in 1894, 1901 and 1904. Even as late as 1923 Dublin University were taking on the West Indies.
Whenever I walk out to the middle, albeit rarely with bat in hands these days, I remember that I'm walking in the footsteps of the greatest players that played our game. I close my eyes and see WG Grace hoicking the ball through the window of the Alliance Francaise building, or Alan Davidson straight driving Rodney Bernstein onto the roof of the pavilion. I see Spofforth and Trumper, Hammond and Hutton, Sobers and Benaud. There's history in every blade of grass here.
There’s no other ground in Ireland who can point to its record individual innings being made by a Nawab! The senior Pataudi made an unbeaten 233 for the Catamarans in 1929.
Much work has been done in recent years to bring the club back from the brink, and a vibrant bunch of students are showing the fruits of their own labours on the divisional tables this season. The enormous undertaking of a three-day fixture went off last week with few hitches and much favourable comment on the most beautiful ground in the land.
Cricket Leinster has recognised the benefits of a centre-city venue to unite the province behind the most exciting development since the union began competitions in 1919. Long may the Lightning reign.
* So what do you love most about your own club and where it plays. Write and tell is and each week we will feature one Leinster ground. Remember to send in a photograph and we will include this in the phot section as well. The picture is from the recent Inter-provincial match coutesy of Inpho.