Warren Deutrom will step down as Cricket Ireland’s chief executive at the end of August, bringing to a close nearly 19 years in a job he often described as a “vocation”. His resignation was accepted at Wednesday’s board meeting, and a search for his successor is already being mapped out.
“It’s hard to explain my feelings since making this decision,” Deutrom said. “The role of Cricket Ireland CEO has covered more than a third of my life and two-thirds of my professional career. It has felt more like a vocation and a true labour of love than a mere job.”
Key landmarks under his watch are easy enough to list. Ireland became an ICC Full Member in 2017, which meant Test status and, crucially, a larger slice of global funding. The board later secured co-hosting rights for the 2030 men’s T20 World Cup alongside England, Scotland and Wales, and obtained planning approval for a purpose-built international ground in Dublin, pencilled in for completion in 2028. A central-contracts system is now in place for both men and women, and Ireland Women entered the ICC Women’s Championship for the first time in the 2022-25 cycle.
“The attainment of ICC Full Membership and Test status is the most significant achievement I’ll look back on with pride,” Deutrom reflected. “Indeed, if the first decade of my role was about trying to achieve ICC Full Membership/Test status, the next decade has been about trying to live up to that privilege. Today, with new ICC funding, with permanent infrastructure planned, a World Cup to co-host, a central contracts system for both men and women, and the European T20 Premier League on the horizon, I’m more confident than ever that the foundations are there to realise that new vision, so it’s the right time for me to hand over the baton.”
Cricket Ireland chair Brian MacNeice paid tribute to a tenure that spanned both boom and bust. “He took over an embryonic organisation, led it through an unparalleled period of growth, managed the organisation through challenges such as the economic crash and Covid, and always maintained an eye on the big picture,” MacNeice said.
Away from Malahide and Stormont, Deutrom’s résumé is bulky. He has held senior event posts at the ICC and ECB, sits on the ICC Chief Executives’ Committee and the ICC Women’s Cricket Committee, and chairs the European T20 Premier League. He has also served on Irish anti-doping and Olympic disciplinary panels.
The recruitment process for the next CEO, Cricket Ireland insists, will be “comprehensive and thorough”. Whoever gets the job inherits an organisation that is no longer fighting for recognition, yet still working out how to fund and stage top-level cricket on a small-island budget. In other words, plenty done, plenty left to do.
