Next Thursday at Leeds Eoin Morgan takes another giant step towards his dream of playing test match cricket. Sadly for his many admirers here, it will be with three lions and a Vodafone logo instead of the shamrock and RSA badge, but Ireland's exclusion from the top table has forced the young Dubliner's hand.
'I have a couple of games for Middlesex before we meet up on Tuesday', he told the Sunday Tribune this weekend, 'then its fingers crossed'. While he has got a bit of stick in some circles, he has no doubt he is making the right move. 'I've thought about what I would do if I got the opportunity for years, so I'm well over it.'
Ironically enough he could well face Ireland this summer, perhaps in the second phase of the Twenty20 World Cup or in the Stormont ODI at the end of August. 'That's way too far ahead', he says, but he's in such cracking form that he'll surprise no-one if he takes the chance with both hands.
Any doubters would have been convinced by his stunning innings on TV last Monday. On his way to a career best 161 for Middlesex (ironically on the same day that his pathfinding pal Ed Joyce was hitting his own personal best, 127, for Sussex) he played several outrageous shots that won him wide acclaim from Sky Sports commentators.
Robert Croft was 'very impressed with how quick he is on his feet', while Paul Allott said he reminded him of former England batsman Neil Fairbrother: 'he's compact and busy with some big shots'.
His range of reverse sweeps through, behind, in front and over square were a delight, and his powerful wrists means he gets a lot more power into the shot than many others who play it.
The most incredible shot of all, which he calls 'the change-up' is best described as a reverse, reverse sweep. He shaped to play a normal reverse sweep, before rolling his bat under his wrists and dabbing it down to third man for four. 'I've played four or five times before', he says, 'a couple of times off seamers. It probably comes from practising badly!'
There was a lot of speculation on TV that a grounding in hurling might have been at the root of it. 'I played hurling till I was 11, so the reverse sweep feels like a natural shot. I read somewhere that the sporting skills you pick up from age 9 to 12 stay with you so maybe this is a case of that.'
He gets his chance to show a wider audience what he can do over the next week.
It seems extraordinary to think that Ireland are heading into the Twenty20 World Cup with four players who have never played the game over that distance on any serious level. Besides the three games won in Belfast last summer to ensure they qualified, the only other occasion Ireland have played Twenty20 was against Bangladesh A in the run-up to that event. There are three unofficial and two official warm-up games in England shortly but it seems remiss that a game or two wasn't organised around the long winter tours.
Jeremy Bray and John Mooney's experience on this side of the world is confined to the LHW competition in Leinster, while Regan West's Stormont Spitfires entire 20/20 programme last summer consisted of two bowl outs.
One knowledgeable observer of the North West scene reckons Boyd Rankin's last 20/20 game was probably five years ago when he played for Bready against Ardmore. 'It was a 20 over replay of a league game played on a wet night. He was warned for bowling a beamer with a wet ball!'
The Irish diaspora in England are making plenty of headlines at the moment. Of the top five run-scorers in the Friends Provident Trophy after Wednesday's games, Eoin Morgan was 2nd, Ed Joyce 3rd and Will Porterfield 5th.
Cricket Ireland has widened its search for an Operations Director after their initial advertising here failed to produce the right candidate. With a salary of 65-70,000, the winning candidate will have overall responsibility for all matters related to the playing of the game in Ireland. According to the brief this will include 'game development, high performance, coach/officials education, and the management of international squads through to match operations'.
The new closing for applications is next week, but according to ceo Warren Deutrom, 'If we don't have the right person even in this tranche of applications, we shall have no hesitation in going back to the market again. It's such an important role to the future development of our grassroots, high performance and cricket operational structures, that we are prepared to wait for the right person.'
The range of skills is wide, demanding 'significant experience in sports administration' and 'a highly effective communicator and relationship builder'.
One man who ticks all those boxes and still deeply involved with the game here is former coach Adrian Birrell. It seems a bit strange that he hasn't been mentioned for the post but it is known that he has family commitments. He was unavailable for comment this weekend.
Seven of The Lions of Sion', the Irish team that bowled the West Indies out for 25, were at Clontarf Castle on Wednesday where a sumptuous tribute was paid to them. The Lord's Taverners and Cricket Ireland event saw George Hook interrogate the players as well as a stirring video about the momentous day. Ivan Anderson revealed that the ICU secretary Jimmy Boucher came into the dressing room to tell the Irish team to go easy, thereby ensuring play continued all day.