THE plan for the proposed international venue for Malahide goes on public display in the Fingal County Council offices tomorrow, the first step towards Ireland's own cricket stadium.

The council has embarked on a consultation process, which will gauge local opinion on the ambitious plan for a 10,000 capacity ground in the north Dublin suburb.

Malahide club official Ian Talbot is excited by the developments. 'The council has put a draft plan together which involves handing over the Lady Acre [the large area behind the current ground] to the cricket club. This process will tease out the public view and all going well we'll be able to put a tender together shortly.'

Despite the prevailing economic woes, the club and CricketIreland are forging ahead with the plan which has been floating around cricket circles for several years.

'We haven't been able to investigate even a ballpark figure until the council broadly signed off on the plan', explains Talbot, 'but we hope to start doing that after the consultation ends on 13 September.'

While CricketIreland can expect some government grand aid – offered with great fanfare by then sports minister John O'Donoghue after the stirring deeds at the 2007 World Cup – it doesn't expect to have to ask for funds just yet.

The plan, published here for the first time, shows the new ground – built to ICC specifications for ODIs – where Malahide currently have their pitch. Half the field will be surrounded by a ten foot high bank which will slope down to the boundary, allowing supporters a good view. Temporary seating can be installed here when required. A flat area 12 metres wide atop the bank will play host to marquees and corporate areas for big games.

The plan allows for the current clubhouse to provide catering and dressing room areas, but the club expect they will need to build a new pavilion in time.

Behind the bank will lie a second pitch which will allow the club to play fixtures while the main arena is taken over for big events.

Should the plan be adopted quickly, the plan is to start working on a new square – which would be on the current outfield, at a 45 degree angle to the square – in September.

All going well, the ground could play host to the third Ireland v England game which the ECB has agreed to play over three summers, starting with the RSA Challenge in Stormont on 27 August.

'The infrastructure is fantastic in Malahide', says Talbot, 'the council has 5,000 car parking spaces on the castle grounds if necessary, and we are well served by the motorway, Dart and train lines.'

With Stormont holding around 8,000 spectators, the larger capacity Malahide stadium will allow CricketIreland to stage more frequent attractive fixtures in the heartland of the game in Leinster.

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The ICC rankings have been updated after the ODIs against Kenya and several players continue to rise up the ladders. Ireland, of course, has reclaimed 10th place from Zimbabwe and got more good news when Chris Gayle and co decided to return for the one day series against Bangladesh. Had the West Indies 4th XI taken the field, Ireland's closest rivals would have surely picked up some easy ranking points.

There are three players in the top 100 batsmen, the O'Brien brothers in 61st (Kevin) and 68th (Niall), while William Porterfield is up to 78th.

Kyle McCallan is 47th in the bowling rankings, with Trent Johnston 72nd and Boyd Rankin 100th. Andre Botha, who hasn't bowled in an ODI for nine months, retains 54th place, while Dave Langford-Smith, who retired in March last year, clings to 92nd.

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The Ranji Trophy is one Indian cricket's most prized events. And, in time, it may well become one of Irish cricket's. Today sees the first staging of the (Irish) Ranji Trophy in College Park between sides made up of Indian residents and a side of Irishmen.

The game commemorates the great Sussex and England batsman, Ranjitsinjhi, who lived for several years in Ballynahinch Castle in Connemara and was the first head of state to make an official visit to the Irish Free State. The trophy was donated by Anne Chambers, who wrote Ranji: Maharajah of Connemara, and the game starts at 1pm.

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Two Irishmen named in England one-day squad

IRISH cricketers Eoin Morgan and Ed Joyce have been named in the England preliminary squad of 30 for the Champions Trophy in September.

The squad will be reduced to 15 by 23 August, four days before England play Ireland in the RSA Challenge ODI at Stormont.

It spells a deserved return to international cricket for Joyce, who was discarded by England after the 2007 world cup. He has been in top form in the one-day game this summer, scoring three centuries in the Friends Provident Trophy, although he was out cheaply in the final of the competition yesterday at Lord's.

Morgan, too, will be relieved to know he is still in the selectors' minds after a disappointing World Twenty20 in June.

The Champions Trophy, to be held in South Africa, is confined to the top eight teams in the ICC rankings. Ireland are currently 10th.