Ireland�s inaugural one day international against England next June will, almost certainly, be staged in Belfast. The Stormont ground is favourite to host the biggest game in the 150-year history of the Irish Cricket Union but although the match date (Tuesday June 13) was confirmed yesterday the venue must wait an ICC inspection visit.

Sky Television, however, was represented in Belfast on Thursday at the announcement of the big match and they have passed the ground as suitable for coverage of any Ireland home game in the C & G Trophy, the dates and venues of which were also confirmed on the same day.

The fact that the television company which holds the rights for all England Test and one-day internationals for four years from next summer has given the go-ahead for television coverage at Stormont should make the ICC visit a formality and then it will be up to the ICU, who own the rights for the England game, to get the best deal for Irish cricket.

No matter who televises the match, however, the all-ticket occasion is certain to be a sell-out as the majority of Michael Vaughan�s Ashes heroes - Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen included - will be turning out in their coloured clothing for the first time in an away one-day international in Europe.

Although the match on Tuesday June 13 will be the highlight of Ireland�s first season as one of the elite Associate nations in world cricket, there is a plethora of attractive games to keep the players busy and the spectators happy.

Before England arrive, Ireland will have played, weather permitting, no fewer that eight one-day games against county opposition, all but one of their scheduled games in the new-look C & G Trophy. First up is a home game against the holders, Hampshire, the game to be played on Sunday April 23, and never before has Ireland staged a game so early in the season. Clontarf will host that game, before the squad face three successive away games.

On the Mayday Holiday weekend, there are back to back games against Gloucestershire, a first visit to Bristol for 17 years when Ireland lost a two-day game by 100 runs. Next day, Monday May 1, they will meet Glamorgan at Sophia Gardens, where in 1997, in spite of 85 from the late Hansie Cronje, Ireland lost by six wickets.

The squad will be off on their travels again on Sunday May 7 with a game against Essex, the 2005 totesport League champions. That game will be played at Chelmsford, the venue for the last meeting between the teams in 1998 when the county scored 359 for six in their 50 overs.

The first game in Northern Ireland next season will be at Stormont on Sunday May 14 with the visit of Surrey, a repeat of last year�s historic game in Dublin when Ireland famously won their first game in the competition by five wickets.

The luck of the draw has given Ireland a visit to Lord�s for the first time since 2003 and an away game against Middlesex for the first time in eight years. That game will take place on May 28 and the squad will then travel to Tunbridge Wells for Ireland�s first ever game in Kent on the second Holiday Monday.

That weekend promises to be the most attractive of the season because as well as playing at the Home of Cricket, Ireland will also face Ed Joyce and Niall O�Brien on successive days. The two Ireland internationals seem certain to be the opposition because the weekend clashes with the second test between England and Sri Lanka so, assuming England wicket-keeper Geraint Jones is still in the Test team then O�Brien will be behind the stumps for Kent, against the team-mates he won the Inter-Continental Cup with in Namibia last month.

Two days before the England game, Ireland will �warm-up� with a C & G Trophy match against Sussex at Castle Avenue, the south coast county�s first visit since they hammered Ireland by 304 runs in 1996. Ireland�s last game in the C & G Trophy will be back at Stormont on Sunday June 25 against Somerset, winners of the Twenty20 Cup last season.

Ireland will also fit in an 11th game in that hectic two-month period next year with the opening defence of their Inter-Continental Cup, a home game against UAE, provisionally scheduled for May 16-19, immediately after the Surrey game and ahead of one of only two weekends free of international commitments. The other Inter-Continental Cup game next summer is away to Scotland who also host the European Championships. All those games will take place in August.

But it is June 13 that will get the first entry in everyone�s new diary - the day England play their first ever game in Ireland and Adrian Birrell�s squad can say they have really hit the big time. For the cricket fans in Belfast it is sure to be a case of �I was there.�