The more things change...

An obvious lesson was learned as First Class cricket returned to Ireland's shores

📸: Cricket Ireland

That Heinrich Malan was hitting slip catches 45 minutes before play was a telling sign.

Harry Tector stood at first slip, his brother Tim 20 yards away feeding the drill. Andrew Balbirnie was at second, Curtis Campher at third.

After a while, Balbirnie drifted off to get changed. Whites had to be donned for the toss. Tector too, once he was satisfied with his work.

Eventually, Campher called it a day, but only after a one-handed stunner. Malan offered a nonchalant yet approving fist bump.

No doubt about it, this was the warm-up for a red ball, multi-day game. For the first time in two years, a First Class match was being contested by the top players on the island. It was an intriguing four days, one that answered some questions while leaving others unanswered.

The main takeaway? Surprise, surprise, we need more like this.

So much more.

On one hand the occasion felt anticlimactic. A few stragglers turned up on day one to patrol the boundary. Ditto day two, albeit the poor forecast likely deterred plenty. Unless a proper cricket tragic, did you know this game was even on?

Those who were following, either via scorecard or radio commentary on days one and two, were interested predominantly for one reason. Who was going to force their way into the Test squad for next week?

Most of the places, one would imagine, were already pencilled in. Then Barry McCarthy did his knee playing for Pembroke in the Irish Senior Cup (he is unlikely to play again this year). Then Paul Stirling limped off with a calf issue after two overs of duty at slip in Malahide (he is unlikely to play at Stormont next week). Spots were suddenly up for grabs.

But who would take them? Jake Egan’s day two hundred was an excellent, chanceless knock. Matthew Hollard has turned heads ever since coaches saw him bowling quickly in his maiden interpro last year. He took a wicket with his first ball this week. Tom Mayes took four wickets as team north tore through the top order of team south. Cue selection clamour. Plenty enjoy personnel debates more than they do watching the actual cricket.

Caveats show the value of actually being there. Of watching the cricket and therefore making it accessible. The inability to convert the analyst camera feed into a minimalist public product will always grate.

Hollard’s first wicket was a strangle down the leg side. Egan’s knock was a breakout performance, particularly when playing against the short ball. But it was on a flat, slow deck against a struggling attack with seven international appearances between them. Mayes has a good First Class record and would be deserving of a Test call-up. But there was stern criticism of some of the strokeplay of the Raiders top order.

Selectors met to pick the squad for Stormont on the evening of day three. Perhaps this was because the game was largely done at that point. Play finished up on the morning of day four, may as well get up the road early. But there is a precedent here, squads have regularly been picked midway through interpro festivals.

Which suggests that the group was largely written down, even if only in pencil rather than permanent marker, in advance of the Emerald game. Use the four days to get miles on the clock for the chosen few.

That must be a kick in the teeth for uncontraced players on the fringe of the squad. What’s the point of turning up for a glorified net sessions if strong performances won’t get you moved up the ladder?

Perhaps Ireland have to select in this way. You can’t have knee-jerk reactions to one-off matches. Egan’s hundred may well be a flash in the pan in favourable conditions. Given the lack of top order depth, it may well get him a squad place. Yet how replicable would his success be next week against Matt Henry? Stick to tried and trusted. There’s no choice with few First Class games to learn who has what it takes.

The solution to both points of view, clearly, is to play more. If frustrated by the apparent devaluing of this game, then add more value to First Class cricket by hosting more of it. If forced into picking based on reliability, then host more games so form can build a stronger case.

‘Reliability,’ it should be said, is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Realistically, there are only three fit players who are pencilled into the Ireland XI based on a track record of performing in red ball cricket: Andy McBrine, Mark Adair and Lorcan Tucker. You could argue for Curtis Campher. The rest are in because white ball exploits have shown their quality or simply due to lack of alternatives. The solution? Play more.

Could there have been two, maybe even three, FC games in as many weeks leading up to the Test? Given the injury list when arriving at the ground on Monday (McCarthy, Jordan Neill and Sam Topping were all ruled out), perhaps not.

If Egan - who only was involved thanks to Topping’s demise - had another week to press his case, making a second hundred in advance of New Zealand, what then? The sluggish opening spells of Matthew Humphreys and Craig Young would be mere rust-shaking if they performed strongly in a second domestic offering. If Mayes kept getting top order players to play bad shots, at what point does it no longer become coincidence?

Why did we only get one game? In all likelihood, cost. The same reason listed behind the decision to not stream matches. It’s beyond frustrating. Especially when Cricket Ireland spent €268,000 last year on employee restructuring (they have acknowledged that this figure involved a redundancy payment). Fixing mistakes of the past is not the only thing weighing down the finances - the ICC loan still has to be paid off - but it sure doesn’t help when still six figure sums go on those walking out the door rather than actual cricket.

New leadership has asked for time to sort it all out. It’s not entirely their fault that this is the mess in which the sport finds itself, but it is nevertheless a mess. The corporate world moves at a mind-numbingly glacial pace. Few seem willing to question why that is an accepted fact.

Meanwhile there are still selectors operating with incomplete information no matter which way they go about things. Either reward form in a one-off match or back consistent selections while playing a warm-up fixture. This is the same modus operandi that has seen minimal change to the Irish team in recent years.

At the very least, it sounds like Reuben Wilson has had his name called. A young man who progressed through the U19s, featuring at three World Cups before starting off with the Leinster Lightning and now a First Class debut. He was the Raiders bowler most likely to build dot ball pressure on day two, while his away, away, in set-up of Egan caught a few eyes on day four.

Fast-tracked to an extent, he did not look out of place in Malahide this week. Penny for the thoughts of his Kiwi father if a debut comes against the Blackcaps next week?

If anything else, it was a joy to watch the rhythm of what took place in Malahide. Even in the doldrums of the windy day two showers, when no one wanted to be there. It’s part of the sport. Drifting in and out of enthusiasm as a spectator while watching players battling to avoid falling into the same trap.

Fan enjoyment is diminished by the paltry red ball schedule, as is selectors’ ability to do their job. Those in charge know this. They are, we are told, planning to fix it. Promises are scant antidote for frustration.

At the very least, if even for just a fleeting three days, we experienced what it’s like to be a functioning full member. Selection debates - however ill-informed thanks to inaccessibility - prompted by red ball cricket.

Hopefully, it only goes up from here.