CRICKET: Tomorrow is a very important day for several fringe players in their bid to make it to next year's ICC World Cup in the West Indies. Ireland A take on the MCC in a one-day game at Malahide, and at least five of the team will feel that they have a realistic chance of getting there.

On the batting side, the most obvious gap in the current Ireland team is opening the innings. While Jeremy Bray has not had the best of seasons, his place in Jamaica would seem fairly assured, but who will face the new ball alongside him there is a lot less clear.

After a protracted opportunity, Dominick Joyce was dropped at the end of the C&G Trophy campaign in favour of William Porterfield, but the Rush left-hander has given no indication he is ready for the challenge. His total of 47 in four innings hasn't exactly set the world alight and certainly can't have cemented his place in coach Adrian Birrell's mind.

Former Ireland captain and veteran of 76 internationals Jason Molins will see this A game as a real chance to get his name back up the pecking order.

Unfortunately for Molins, he has not been scoring heavily for Phoenix of late, and some feel his time is over, particularly as his fielding and general fitness have also come in for criticism.

While there is no doubting the class of Molins and that he is one of the few top-order Ireland batsmen to have proved themselves against class bowling, he must give them a reason to pick him. How can they select a 31-year-old who is not scoring runs over a younger player with more potential? Of course if Molins scores runs tomorrow and again for Phoenix in the coming weeks, you can expect to see him back in the squad for the European Championships in early August.

The same can be said of Joyce.

This match will also be a chance for a couple of bowlers to stake claims. Young left-arm spinner Gary Kidd would do himself no harm with a good performance. Rated highly by Birrell, he is definitely in the mix.

David Langford-Smith is another who should be able to engineer a ticket to the World Cup, provided he can bowl with a bit more consistency than he showed in the C&G Trophy.

Beyond that it would take something special from the likes of Roger Whelan, Thinus Fourie or Kenny Carroll to get them in the forefront of the selectors' minds, and opportunities to impress are running out.

IRELAND A: Jason Molins (Phoenix, capt), Conor Armstrong (North County), Kenny Carroll (Railway Union), Thinus Fourie (Phoenix), Ryan Haire (North Down), Dominick Joyce (Merrion), Gary Kidd (Waringstown), David Langford-Smith (Phoenix), Boyd Rankin (Derbyshire), Roger Whelan (Railway Union), Gary Wilson (Civil Service North). 12th man: Alex Cusack (Clontarf).

I see the Irish Cricket Union is finally advertising for a chief executive, nearly four months after Peter Thompson left and at least seven months since the ICU knew he was soon to leave.

Speculation is already rife as to who will get the job. If I may be so bold as to advise the successful candidate: for the sake of your own sanity and the good of cricket in Ireland, please insist the structure of the ICU executive be changed before you take office. I wrote here some weeks ago that the 20-person executive needs to be replaced with a nine-person board of management similar to that of the Irish Hockey Association.

The new chief must demand wholesale change. Otherwise, the phrase "poisoned chalice" could soon apply.