On Friday Ireland begins a three match ODI series against a Full Member for only the third time. It is five years since the previous time which was also against Zimbabwe and you have to go back to March 2008 when the men in green lost 3-0 in Bangladesh.

The Zimbabwean series in 2010 saw Ireland lose their first two games before winning the final game by 20 runs. This series will be, in the immortal words of the recently decreased Yogi Berra, déjà vu all over again as Ireland are in tenth place in the ODI rankings two points above their eleventh placed hosts. This was exactly the same situation in 2010 and the win in that third ODI kept Ireland’s noses in front.

No less than seven of the team that played in the matches in Harare are available again tomorrow with the team still led by William Porterfield who also has Paul Stirling, the O’Brien brothers, Gary Wilson, John Mooney and George Dockrell to call on.

Since 2010 Ed Joyce has returned to play for his native land while Lambeth’s favourite Irishman Tim Murtagh has been recruited to bolster the seam attack. The trio of Craig Young, Andy McBrine and Stuart Thompson has quadrupled the North-West contingent while the find of last season, Andrew Balbirnie, will be hoping to recapture his World Cup form. The squad is completed by Stuart Poynter and Max Sorensen who has benefitted from the retirement of Alex Cusack.

Ireland will be glad to get back into full ODI mode after a summer spent primarily on the T20 format that promised much but ended disappointingly. Although they achieved their prime objective of qualifying for India next March only four wins out of nine completed T20I’s represents Ireland worst series of results in the shortest form of the game.

The biggest shock was that the batting, which was the centrepiece of the World Cup successes, performed so poorly in the summer. It was a rarity for more than two batsmen to make a meaningful contribution and this trend continued in the rain shortened ODI in Belfast against Australia. Hopefully the return to climatic conditions that mirror Brisbane rather than Belfast will result in the batting form that was on display last February and March.

However in all probability it will be the two bowling attacks that will determine the outcome. Judging by the just completed series between Zimbabwe and Pakistan in the same Harare stadium, spin will be crucial although it would appear that the Pakistani hero from the decisive third ODI, Bilal Asif, may have owed his 5-25 to a less than straight arm. Of the 26 Zimbabwean wickets to fall to bowlers, 19 were taken by spinners while the Zimbabwe bowlers only managed to take 13 wickets, just 5 of which fell to the slow bowlers.

This of course creates a dilemma for Ireland coach John Bracewell. It was in Stormont in September that Bracewell finally took complete ownership of the squad. Prior to that he, perfectly reasonably, listened to the advice from the support staff that had been around the team for the Phil Simmons years. However he put his own stamp on proceedings by making two decisions that signalled that a new era had begun.

The wicket-keeping gloves were finally restored to Niall O’Brien and he responded with a superb display behind the stumps and also with a determined batting effort. I, among others, had been calling for O’Brien to be the first choice keeper for a long time and it became something of a tradition for me to ask Phil Simmons at the pre-series press conference who would be keeping wicket and it also seemed to be a tradition for Simmons to reply “Gary Wilson” and refuse to elaborate further.

For the umpteenth time let me say that believing that O’Brien is the better keeper is no slight on Wilson who is excellent in his own right but O’Brien just brings that bit more both in technical skills and equally importantly in the motivation that he provides with his words and body language. And I will also say yet again that Wilson is a much superior outfielder.

The second decision that Bracewell made was to drop George Dockrell in favour of Andy McBrine. The harsh reality of professional cricket is that you should be judged on recent performances and not those that are becoming a distant memory. Dockrell’s form has dipped alarmingly in the past eighteen months although there were still glimpses of his former abilities such as in the West Indies innings in Nelson when he picked up the wickets of Gayle, Samuels and Ramdin in his 3-50. However I am sure that he would acknowledge that his wickets were at least in part due to the pressure exerted at the other end by McBrine who only conceded 26 runs in his ten overs, two of which were bowled in the opening powerplay.

Dockrell has now lost his county contract with Somerset even though it is only couple of years ago since he seemed certain to be their lead spinner for years to come. Indeed he was even being spoken of in the English media as a future England player. It is easy to forget that George has just turned 23 as he has been in the Ireland colours since he was 17. There are only seven bowlers in Ireland’s history who have taken more than his 195 wickets and Kevin O’Brien who is immediately above him with 199 is also the only player in the top seven who is still playing.

The problem as I see it is that George has lost confidence because video analysis following his initial successes for Ireland and Somerset revealed that he didn’t spin the ball very much. So batsmen started to target him early in his spells and he invariably began to bowl darts and became reluctant to flight the ball which previously had got him a lot of wickets. His appearance for Leinster Lightning in the final inter-pro of the season at Rathmines may well be a harbinger of things to come unless another county offers a contract. It may actually benefit George to have a season at home, go back to Trinity and see where that takes him. George is a fine young man and it would be a terrible loss to Irish cricket if he is unable to resurrect his career.

So back to Bracewell’s dilemma. Does he play both McBrine and Dockrell and sacrifice a seamer? The lesson from the World Cup would suggest that is the way to go as other than the now retired Cusack the seamers hardly covered themselves in glory. Both spinners played in the Zimbabwe match in Hobart and it is entirely possible that Ireland will field the same team with the exception of Murtagh or Young for Cusack.

Zimbabwe will be favourites not because they are a Full Member but rather that they are coming off the back of the Pakistan series and although they generally didn’t play particularly well they are in the rhythm of international cricket and it might take Ireland a game to find that.

The main benefit to Ireland is the opportunity to put further distance between them and Afghanistan in the ranking table as the lower ranked of the two Associates will have to play off in 2018 against the winners of the World Cricket League to determine who is on the official ranking list for the subsequent four years. As Zimbabwe host Afghanistan for 5 ODI’s following the Ireland tour it is crucial that Ireland get something out of this series particularly as the Afghans spilt a 4 match series in Zimbabwe last year.

However the most important match on the tour starts on the 24th in Windhoek when Ireland will take on Namibia, the only other side with a 100% record in the Intercontinental Cup. A comprehensive win against the West Africans would provide a cushion for the rest of the Tournament that is essential for the future of Ireland cricket. Should Ireland fall out of contention it is hard to imagine that Ed Joyce, Tim Murtagh and others would be motivated to keep going especially as 50 over World Cup qualification has become a mountain rather than a hill.

Given the choice of a 3-0 defeat to Zimbabwe and a win against Namibia that yields 20 points I will take the latter every time.