The progress of Irish cricket under the guidance of coach Mike Hendrick faces another test over the next two days with back-to-back matches against Essex and Middlesex in the Benson and Hedges Cup.
No one, including Hendrick, expects Ireland to win at Chelmsford today or to repeat last year's famous victory over Middlesex at Lord's tomorrow; but a further narrowing of the gap between professionals and part-timers would be heartening.
The advantage of daily practice and three weeks of competitive cricket was underlined at Castle Avenue last April when Ireland came off the back of the ICC Trophy in Malaysia to give under-prepared Middlesex a nasty shock.
Only two of the Irish top six who scored 281-4 that day, will be at Lord's tomorrow with the most important absentee being Decker Curry, who laid the foundations of the win with 75.
Middlesex were quick to acknowledge Curry's as the match-winning performance; but also mentioned the slow pitch at Clontarf as a contributing factor. The difference between bowling on Irish club surfaces and the harder wickets found at county grounds has been a theme that Hendrick has returned to repeatedly.
Hendrick, who is likely to field the same team who lost to Glamorgan on Friday, will be looking for an improvement in that specific department - as a small step in his long march.
