After Ireland’s busiest year comes the longest. Although not scheduled to play the 38 games arranged in 2007, the match which gets under way in Abu Dhabi tomorrow is the first in a season which, the players hope, will last almost eight and a half months.

If Ireland contest their third successive Inter-Continental Cup final the players will need to motivate themselves for a four-day game in Dubai, starting on November 12 and by then, they will have already played up to 52 days of international cricket.

National Coach Phil Simmons has already said he does not expect anyone to play in every match this year, so the fringe players will never have a better chance to establish themselves in the first-choice line-up.

The priority will be the one-day internationals, which begin in Bangladesh the week after next - three games in five days against the team ranked ninth in the world, directly above Ireland in the ICC ODI Championship table - and end with five in a row against Kenya in Nairobi in October. In between, Scotland, the Netherlands and Canada will all play in Dublin, the Kenyans will also be in Belfast in late August and New Zealand will be the opposition in Aberdeen, of all places.

Fit in eight games, home and away, against four counties in the Friends Provident Trophy, all but one of them being played in May, and a quartet of Intercontinental Cup Cup games and, it could be said Ireland have never had it so good.

It is no more than they deserve after qualifying for the Super Eights at last year’s World Cup finals but now the pressure is greater than ever and Simmons’ task will be just as tough. It’s not unreasonable to compare it to a football manager juggling his squad to cope with the demands of the Premiership and Champions League.

With four of the five contracted county players - if fit and not selfishly guarding their county place - certain starters for the ODIs, Ireland should be at full strength for at least 16 games this year. But then, Warwickshire’s new signing, Boyd Rankin, is missing this month’s action as he recovers from a second stress fracture of his left foot, so it’s already a case of, at least 13 games!

And make no mistake, Ireland will need their strongest available team to hold their own on the world stage this season. Until the next World Cup finals in Asia in 2011 they will be treated as the upstarts who upset the world order in the Caribbean last year and the Full Members, - including Bangladesh and Zimbabwe - who will this month vote to reduce the number of teams at the next global event by two to 14, will be out to prove a point.

The counties had Ireland in their sights, on their return from the West Indies and although Ireland did not help themselves with poor performances, six heavy defeats last season did not look good on their cv. The ODIs at Stormont against India and South Africa also showed the gulf in class when Ireland are less than full-strength.

Just as significantly, though, Ireland, even without their ‘stars’ held their own last year against their peers and Simmons has still to see his team lose against a fellow Associate. It’s a proud record and one which must be fiercely defended this year with a European Championship crown and Intercontinental Cup Cup to defend - another reason why the coach must get his selections right when he has only amateurs to choose from.

First up is the Inter-Continental Cup game against UAE and with only Rankin and Jeremy Bray missing from a full-strength squad, Simmons’ only selection decisions will be who shares the new ball with Dave Langford-Smith and whether to play two spinners.

The latter will be taken after a look at the pitch although with Greg Thompson finally finding form in the last two games at the Under 19 World Cup, Simmons will have less qualms about pitching him in as Kyle McCallan’s spin partner, although Waringstown slow left armer Gary Kidd is also in the 15-man squad.

In the absence of Rankin, the uncapped North County all rounder Reinhart Strydom is Ireland’s fastest bowler and he is probably slight favourite to win his first cap ahead of fellow left armer Phil Eaglestone who has just completed a two-week stay at the Dennis Lillee Cricket Academy with the Australian legend as a mentor. Merrion’s Thinus Fourie will also come into consideration if only one spinner plays.

Whatever combination is chosen, it should be a winning start for Ireland. Then they can get down the serious business of moving up the ODI rankings. It promises to be another year to remember.

Ireland squad: T Johnston (capt), A Botha, A Cusack, P Eaglestone, T Fourie, G Kidd, D Langford-Smith, K McCallan, E Morgan, K O’Brien, N O’Brien, W Porterfield, P Stirling, R Strydom, G Thompson.