The invitation to an online media roundtable to discuss “High Performance within Irish Cricket”, without the presence of the Ireland head coach and on the same day as the first inter-provincial Cup match of the season should have alerted us that “something major” was happening”.

The red herring was the attendance of Lloyd Tennant, Head coach of the Women’s side, alongside Graeme West, Director of High Performance and, still relatively new, CEO Sarah Keane so all the media assumed the roundtable was to be centred around the Women’s side immediately after their T20 World Cup campaign in England.

I actually asked if the roundtable could be delayed by 24 hours to avoid a clash with the game in Bready but was told “we have no options. If we don’t do Tuesday it will be quite a while till all key people together again”.

When Gary Wilson was announced on Monday morning as the new men’s head coach, just 56 minutes after it was announced that Heinrich Malan had stepped down, it became clear why the rush for a media roundtable. And, yes, Lloyd Tennant was largely ignored during the 75 minutes Q and A.

By the end of it, there was no definitive answer why the decision to change coaches seven months before the end of Malan’s contract, but there was a convincing argument why Wilson, described by West as a trailblazer in Irish cricket, was appointed as his successor.

“Gary represents the Irish system, a good example of aspiring coaches in the system to see a local coach come through the system. Gary has the respect of the group and has played a huge part in the young players coming through.

“Where Gary’s career has got to, four years of exposure to international cricket, he’s a student of the game. He’s observed the teams we played against, the coaches we played against and what Heinrich brought. It’s no secret that Heinrich is exceptional when it comes to preparation and planning. That really started to come through with Gary when he took the A team to Abu Dhabi last year, it was seamless in terms of the approach.”

As for Malan’s departure,  the delay by ICC in announcing the dates of next year’s World Cup qualifying tournament – the end of Malan’s contract which was not going to be renewed – was quoted a significant factor.

That now looks set to be in the first quarter of next year and Ireland haven’t played an ODI since May last year.

“Heinrich was keen to plan ahead. He has a young family and we had honest conversations over a long period of time and we came to the decision we have made. Heinrich recognised we needed new head coach in position for Afghanistan series (in August when Ireland resume ODI action). But he wanted to lead into the India series and that worked out to be a great memory to take off.

“It was a joint decision. Heinrich had met our expectations during his time – the ODI series win in West Indies, three back-to-back Test victories – but the Zimbabwe washout at this year’s T20 World Cup was significant. (After beating Oman) that would have got wins that met expectations. Now we have new impetus, a new leader as captain. One or two players playing fearlessly and we are looking to see that with Gary as he steps into the role.

The expectation that the qualifiers will be played early next year was also the reason why, for the first time, there was no application process for Malan’s successor.

“It would be six-nine months if we wanted applications and with the qualifier possibly starting in January we couldn’t afford that,” said West.

“With the Afghanistan series coming up, urgency was important and we trust and have faith in Gary. We could have done something in the short term but it is a permanent appointment (with no time limit, but there are robust performance measures and objectives built into the contract) There will be further considerations and additions to the team, Keane confirmed.

On appointing Lorcan Tucker as the new T20 captain, the new high energy in the team was noted as the management group basked in the thrill of a series win against world champions India “which will send us to the ICC congress next week with our heads held high”.

“That’s his focus, running between wickets was the catalyst to performance plus new players coming in. There was the obvious bounce with a new captain but any players coming into the side will have to buy into that. We have to be one of the top sides in the world in the field, competing against the juggernauts of the game, like India, England and Australia. We have to build from here and give the World Cup qualifiers a real good go.”

It is no coincidence that since Keane took over as CEO on March 1, Cricket Ireland have now dispensed with a director of cricket and changed the men’s coach and at the round-table she did note that not enough opportunities had been given to emerging players.

“We are not making the most of our talent. Beth Healy (women’s team manager) and Chris Siddell (men’s team manager) are getting new performance strategic roles and we are already costing programmes for 2027 fixtures, both men and women,” she said, although later added that selection decisions were not the reason for changing coaches.

The women’s game was discussed at the round-table and it was confirmed that Lauren Rowles, the head coach of Devon, is the new head selector. She attended Ireland’s maiden T20 World Cup victory over West Indies at Bristol and with her input Keane is hoping that more players can follow Gaby Lewis and Orla Prendergast  into the county system.

“Lauren has good contacts. We need to develop a wider talent pool and confident she will open new doors for us. It is good exposure for the rest of the season. An emerging women’s team will go to Loughborough in August, a great opportunity for the U19s in the system. We need more opportunities for our fringe players and a female talent pathway manager will also be appointed in due course.”

West also defended the decision to reduce the Super Series to two teams. “We wanted to make games as competitive as possible and this represented the best possible prep ahead of the World Cup. We will look to increase numbers but the pool needs to increase. Senior players need to be challenged in domestic cricket, I didn’t see that last year. Some players played last year just because they were available.”

He said it was too early to assess the decision to reduce the men’s inter-provincials to three teams but “there is a final for the 50-over tournament so there is more jeopardy.

He added: “The ETPL has strengthened our relationship with Scotland and Netherlands and we may invite a couple of teams. We need something to energise the players”.