Gavin Hoey’s rapid rise looks set to continue over the next few months with Ireland head coach Gary Wilson backing the Pembroke leg-spinner to play a key role in the lead up to the World Cup qualifiers in February.

Hoey, who made his Test match debut against New Zealand in May, can confirm his position as the new go-to spin option for the Boys in Green when they take on Namibia in a five-match one-day international series in Windhoek over the next 11 days.

Wilson’s team are looking to bounce back from a 4-0 drubbing at home by Afghanistan in August against a south-west African side who are one of the hosts of both the qualifiers and next autumn’s World Cup.

One of Ireland’s major failings against Afghanistan was not being able to take wickets in the middle of the 50-over contests although Hoey did claim a career-best 4-34 in the second game.

“For a leg-spinner Gav is incredibly accurate,” Wilson said. 

“We’ve talked at length about wanting to have a wicket-taking threat in those middle overs and you see most of the top sides have a wrist spinner who can change the game on less favourable surfaces.

“It’s not that our finger spinners Andy McBrine and Matt Humphreys can’t take wickets in 50-over games but they have to look at it slightly differently, maybe using change of pace and being uber-accurate.”

With the pitch for tomorrow’s first game against Namibia shorn of grass, Wilson sees no reason why McBrine or Humphreys can’t complement Hoey but is in no doubt about who’s is the main man, despite having only seven caps to his name.

While the Ireland coach has a settled top six batters who, barring mishaps or injury, will all be on the plane in February, it seems among the bowlers only Hoey and seamer Mark Adair can be sure of their places in the squad for the all-important qualifiers.

Neither left-armer Jai Moondra or paceman Byron McDonough would have expected to win a cap at the start of the summer, never mind star against India, as Moondra did, or be in pole position just four months away from Ireland’s most important tournament for years.