Ireland.

If international cricket were a village club, Ireland would be the young, second team medium pacer. Not yet developed enough to warrant a elevation, or as talented as those currently in the higher tier, Ireland has a lot to learn and is trying hard. Not as old or as established as the cocky first-teamers, they are making waves with some notable performances, demanding attention. Their neighbours England will give them the occasional net as a nice gesture, albeit begrudgingly and with no real thought towards their long-term promotion. But in the big games they are doing what any medium pacer must do - they are asking questions.

Ireland's humble beginnings are well and truly a thing of the past. Today's game in a fairly impressive Malahide stadium proved the quality of some of it's individuals (not least the two Irish players in the England side) and may have made the ICC sit up and pay attention. Players like James Taylor and Luke Wright have dominated county cricket this year with averages of 77.57 and 62.75, but were made to look out of their depth on a slightly slow track (but one that produced nearly 550 runs in the day). Indeed James Taylor looked like he was making up his technique on the spot, with 39 year-old Trent Johnston squaring him up so many time he might as well batted front-on. Surely the team they put out today would give the likes of Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, and maybe even the West Indies a good contest?

However there are still many roadblocks in the path to Test status. One such block is their lack of a first-class system in Ireland. This is a must before they are eligible for test status, but it also means they will continually lose players to the England set-up. Many critics bemoan the fact that England 'cherry pick' the best of Irish talent, but who can begrudge them or indeed the players for trying to play as high as they can. County cricket also allows the develop of players, helping them succeed at international level - how good would the likes of Ed Joyce and Niall O'Brien be if they were confined to hometown club cricket? It's precisely why a first class system needs putting in place - to mould future players into true international stars.

Another problem is their global attractiveness. Countries with lower GDP levels such as Sri Lanka struggle to sell out test matches against England - how likely is it that locals who won't pay to watch the likes of Pietersen and Bell, will part with their hard earned cash to watch Paul Mooney bowl some tight lines at 70mph, or will queue up to see William Porterfield score a backs-to-the-wall 50? Not very.

The steps Cricket Ireland are taking are undoubtedly in the right direction. It just needs to keep focusing on developing grass roots cricket in order to have local popularity and ultimately professional status. It also needs to keep increasing the Ireland brand all over the world - the likes of Kevin O'Brien playing in the West Indies Premier League being a good start.

But like all club medium pacers, if it keeps improving and churning out results, it will be hard for the first team to ignore them.