At what age would you say a cricketer reaches his prime? It is an interesting question because I don't believe that all sports are the same. Cricketers mature a lot older than other sports, (my wife thinks cricketers never mature but that's a different argument). So why are the Ireland cricket selectors becoming obsessed with picking guys right out of the U19 team?

Football quite clearly is about pace power and stamina (as well as skill). Therefore footballers, for me, (as Southampton legend Mick Channon would say in a broad Devon accent) are probably in their prime around 22 to 28 mark.

Rugby players are just a few years later. Physically young men fill out until they are about 25 and modern rugby is about hard yards and getting over the gain line. For those of you with a Mathematical bent it is Newton's 2nd Law for the backs, F=ma i.e. Force is equal to mass times acceleration or if you prefer Momentum = mass x velocity for the forwards. Those of you who sat in the back of Mathematics looking out the window, getting over the gain line means you need a big man moving quickly. So in rugby terms players are in their prime from say 24 to 28.

Cricket is a physical sport but it is also a mental sport. So much of the game is played in the head. There are cricketers in every club in Ireland and I suspect in every club in the world who are the greatest batsmen or bowlers ever seen in the nets but when it comes to playing on grass in a match are struck with a vicious paralysis that no poisonous spider anywhere in the world could match. Cricketers know this too and this is why sledging has become such a major factor in the sport. Mental Disintegration is what the Australians call it.

So battling your own demons and knowing your own limitations as a cricketer has almost as big an impact on your performances as anything the opposition can throw at you. Indeed there are one or two old codgers in the world who believe cricket is the greatest game invented for combining the physical and the mental. Watching a player play cricket tells you so much about them as a person.

There will come a time in every match when the pressure comes upon you as an individual. Not the team, but you. How do you cope? Do you go for the big shot and throw your wicket away because the pressure is too great? Or do you pat the ball back over after over because you are frightened to take a chance and you end up leaving your team-mates in the mire? Do you quit when you are dropped because it is too hard to admit you blew it and you haven't the courage to go back and prove yourself?

I think cricketers come to the point in their career when they can conquer those inner demons and reach the point when they are comfortable with their game. Bowlers reach it quicker than batsmen because it is much more physical and batting is more mental. Batsmen reach their peak in their mid to late 20's and go into their mid thirties body permitting.

So why has there been so many players who were picked for Ireland when they were very young and then discarded. If you are going to make the courageous decision to pick them on their talent then what do you expect if deficiencies turn up in their game when put under pressure at International level.

People like Greg Thompson and Gary Kidd were selected incredibly young then discarded, but thankfully they are making a comeback. So when Paul Stirling, a batsman, has struggled to make the jump it alarms me when people are calling for him to be left out. If the Ireland management team bow to that pressure and leave him out then for how long? Now that he is part of the set up he needs to stay involved. Thankfully he is young enough to have several years left in the under age set ups. The kid has a great future and we need to give him some breathing space to continue to learn and to come to terms with his own game.

I say thankfully because the selectors are concentrating their efforts in finding Irish cricketers in the youth set ups and in Belfast and Dublin International Airports immigration department. They certainly aren't looking in club cricket north of the border.

I remember another young man who was picked far too early as a teenager for Ireland. He struggled badly and was discarded as not good enough. It appears to me he has been discarded indefinitely. He is now in his prime and is comfortable with his game. I can't help thinking that he is the sort of player that Ireland needs. Whether anyone in the Ireland management team is interested in considering Ryan Haire is another matter. At least the person who selected him all those years ago can take comfort in the fact that your assessment that he has ability has been proved correct.

David Kennedy is another player who has been the one of the best batsmen in the country for a number of years. I think he was discarded too early. David has long given up hope of adding to his cap tally as evidenced by his return to Ballymena. Mark Hutchinson is another who deserves another look and there are many other examples.

But if these players are kept out of the International ‘club' or clique if you prefer then they won't meet the standards required. It is a self-fulfilling prophesy. Resources are concentrated on a few privileged individuals. If and when they fail there is no-one to turn to. If someone else gets a chance then the ‘told you so' brigade are waiting for them to fail. We need everyone to have the same opportunity to show they can improve the team. Our playing resources are so small we simply cannot afford to discard players too early, or leave it too late to select them. It's a tough judgement call.