Cricket Column:Tomorrow's match against Glamorgan at Stormont is Ireland's final game of the 2007 Friends Provident Trophy campaign. It's a good time to take stock of what we've learnt since the team came back from the Caribbean.

Their FP record to date stands at played six, lost six, with two games, against Surrey and Sussex, rained off without a ball being bowled. In the majority of these matches the margins of defeat have been considerable.

The quality of Ireland's play has slipped since the World Cup for a number of reasons. Most obviously this is due to fatigue, physical and psychological. For this reason Jeremy Bray has been rested for the second part of the series.

Injuries have not helped. Andre Botha has been out of action since he got in the way of an Ian Blackwell straight drive at Taunton on May 6th. As he attempted a catch off his own bowling the ball went from his finger to the boundary in two bounces.

Likewise, Dave Langford Smith's shout of pain as he delivered a ball in the Intercontinental Cup final didn't augur well for a speedy recovery.

Against this backdrop, some new names have appeared on the Ireland team sheet. Thinus Fourie has impressed with his medium pace swing bowling, first against Canada and then in taking three for 41 against Middlesex on Sunday, where he asked questions of good batsmen on a decent wicket.

Likewise, Alex Cusack played with confidence from the start against a top line spin attack. But for a rush of blood against Jamie Dalrymple he could have converted a good start in to something more substantial. Kenny Carroll's long wait through the Caribbean has been rewarded by more regular work and he has shown the talent to make the grade.

One of the gaps in the middle order, created by the absence of Botha and Eoin Morgan, has been filled recently by Kevin O'Brien. The next few years could be an exciting time for the Railway Union player. His future for Ireland is surely as a batsman who also bowls, rather than the other way round.

At number four he has the chance to build an innings, but to do this he has to rein in his adventurous streak. This is a shift that the really good players make, the ones who lose the "bits and pieces" tag and become consistently heavy scorers. O'Brien has shots aplenty and is a great timer of the ball, but the team needs him to turn sparkling 20s into match altering knocks of 80-plus.

Coach Phil Simmons should stick a picture of Steve Waugh on O'Brien's locker door.

The former Australian captain is the perfect case study of how adding some grit to the mix can propel a player to another level. Likewise, O'Brien will have noted the manner in which Kevin Pietersen took the game away from Ireland at the Rosebowl a few weeks ago in the match against Hampshire.

Nothing left the turf as Pietersen scored 66 off 71 balls in the manner of a highly skilled professional just getting the job done.

Each of Ireland's young players will learn from the experience of the last month, and despite the poor results this will be its legacy.

The gap between club cricket and the professional game is vast and the more exposure to playing at this level the better equipped they will be.

Some questions remain, however. One that's been doing the rounds is whether Jason Molins should be recalled. Molins, the former captain and opening batsman, has been scoring well in the tough Middlesex league.

Having been dropped by Adi Birrell, largely because of his lack of fitness, Molins will have noted how the ICU were prepared to pay Jesse Ryder to play despite the New Zealander being decidedly less than sylph-like. It is an unlikely comparison, but in some ways Molins was Birrell's David Beckham moment. It was a statement of intent as much as a decision of individual selection. It said we go to the World Cup as a finely honed unit and will field as well as any team in the tournament. In this he was proved right.

But that was then. Just as Beckham has come back to help England's cause, so Molins may have something to offer a tired Ireland team.

Phil Simmons is his own man, and any decision can be taken free of the baggage of the past. His only responsibility is to the future, starting against India and South Africa in a fortnight's time.