His mother was Irish, they had qualified for the World Cup and he was qualified to play for Ireland. He thought and typed and finally sighed and sent.

It wasn't the only email that arrived at this end. Far from it. A couple of dozen from all corners of the world, all in search of a handy route to the West Indies next March.

Sensing more than a hint of opportunism, nothing was followed up by the Irish Cricket Union.

For a while, Udal presumed he had gone to the wrong address. He checked and waited and eventually forgot.

?It had been quite a while since I'd been playing with England and it was something that had crossed my mind, the whole Irish connection. So I eventually sent an email to the Irish Cricket Union about the possibility of playing for Ireland, about the World Cup and stuff like that. I explained about my mother and her being Irish and I explained about my background. Basically I just asked if my cricketing skills were of any use to Ireland.

That was about it really.

?And to be honest I thought someone would have come back to me. I just thought that they read it and they didn't want me so they just sort of ignored it. That was it as far as I was concerned. I never really paid too much more attention although I have to say that I was a little bit surprised. I just thought they would have got something back to me either way."

And so it went away.

Stayed away. Until it struck Udal hard at the strangest of times. Standing in the middle of Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, a month ago he watched Munaf Patel walk off into the distance, the final Indian wicket to fall in the final test to draw a series England really ought to have lost.

He took all the congratulations. Months of touring Pakistan and India had now ended. It hadn't gone well up to that point, not for England, not for Udal but this had been his day. His figures read four for 14 off 9.2 overs.

He stood and looked around at the emptied terraces and the burned grass. He saved the smell and sight and heat to memory, but dislodged another. Had Ireland replied, he wouldn't be here.

?Looking back, it did work out. Unfortunately I can't play for Ireland now and after going back with England that will stand for some years to come, with the way the rules are structured. I think it's a four-year gap that you have to wait and obviously that's not much use to me now. But what has happened since has been astonishing really. It's all worked out for the best but as I said it would have been nice to hear from somebody in the first place.

?But maybe if I had, those moments would never have happened in India. Each of those wickets would never have fallen. That would have been terrible because the whole experience was magnificent. It was a dream come true and I didn't think I'd ever get the chance to do so again.

I thought that hope had disappeared. Obviously it didn't go quite so well in Pakistan before Christmas. But to have those figures and make that contribution in the end, that is something I will take to the grave with me.

?I think they were the best figures for an English spinner in about four years. What's around the corner is around the corner now and there isn't that much I can do about it.

But England have been very consistent in their selection so there is a chance and a hope I'll be back again. I've been playing cricket for 20 years now and I don't think there has been a better spinner in the country than me these past few years."

Opportunism? Today, as he leads Hampshire out at Clontarf, he'd like to suggest to people that there was a little more to it than that.

C&G TROPHY IRELAND v HAMPSHIRE Clontarf, 10.30 Live, Sky Sports 2, 10.00