Jordan Neill says if he faced the same situation when playing for Ireland, he would not hesitate to do it again, even though it ended his first appearance for his adopted country just 21 overs into last Sunday’s one-day international against West Indies.

In attempting to save a boundary – which he did – he landed on his right shoulder and was in immediate pain. Five days on, the 19-year-old South African is still waiting for a definitive diagnosis.

“I went for a scan on Thursday and we don’t have a timeline or diagnosis yet,” he tells CricketEurope. ‘I still have to see a specialist. It was pretty bad actually. I heard a couple of crunches. I thought it was a stinger at first but then I tried to lift my arm and it wasn’t feeling great. I know it is something to do with my AC joint but don’t know the extent yet.

“It’s a tricky one. It’s how I landed on it. But if I got the opportunity to do it again, I would. It’s professional sport, you are playing for your country, you have to put your body on the line.”

Fortunately, Neill had already been fully involved in the match, bowling five overs, but there was never any question of him being able to bat. And all of this in front of his father who had flown in from Cape Town and arrived less than three hours before the start of the game at Castle Avenue.

“I got the heads up from Stirlo (captain Paul Stirling) on Saturday morning at 10 o’clock in the coffee area that I would be playing tomorrow. He just said ‘have fun and enjoy it, it’s a big learning opportunity’.

 “So I rang my dad on video call straight away and he was standing next to Gary Kirsten (the former South Africa opening batsman and India coach). They would know each other well enough and were apparently talking about me at the time and dad actually handed the phone to Gary. He was asking me ‘why are you still carrying drinks, get yourself in the side’ so I had to say that’s actually why I’m calling, could you pass the phone back to my dad.

“I told him I was playing and dad asked me if I wanted him to fly over. I said ‘it’s your choice but it would be nice to have you there’. Gary actually made the decision for him because his mum had missed his debut and 'it’s a special thing', so dad got the first flight to Johannesburg and then onto Dublin. He arrived at 8am on Sunday. My cousin Charlie, who is married to (Ireland international) Lena Tice, picked him up from the airport and they arrived in time for my cap presentation.”

The call-up to the Ireland squad for the ODI series, as a replacement for the injured Craig Young, wasn’t Neill’s first involvement with the senior squad. The same scenario had taken place three months earlier when Barry McCarthy was forced out of the ODIs against Zimbabwe.

“I was on my way from Rondebosch High School to club practice when I had a missed call from (chairman of selectors) Andrew White, so I phoned him back straight away and he told me Barry had pulled up. He asked how quickly I could get to Zim. That was really unexpected but, after that, it all happened so quickly.

‘So that was pretty cool but the latest (call-up) was much more special, especially making my debut.”

It was when Neill was in Year 11 at High School that he was first called up for an Ireland squad, when the Under 19s made a pre-season tour to South Africa to play the Northern Titans Academy in Pretoria.

“By that stage (March 2023) I was in the Irish system because I had a family friend who was the fielding coach with West Indies and then Afghanistan and when they were playing Ireland he made them aware that I had an Irish passport (his father Peter’s family are all from Northern Ireland) and wanted to come over.

“Albert van der Merwe was in contact and watching footage of me playing for my school, so when Ireland Under 19s came to South Africa they picked me for the squad. From day one, I was in the room with (captain) Phillip le Roux and we just clicked pretty much straight away,” recalls Neill.

“From there I did well enough to merit myself another look. I actually skipped 72 days of school to come across and stay with Phillip in his house to play the Future Series. I finished mid-year exams and headed straight to the airport and returned two days before my end of year exam so I when not playing I was studying in Dublin. I also played two games for Merrion that summer and opened with Stephen Doheny, so I got to know him well.

Neill had not just done enough for another look but was selected for the Under-19 World Cup squad, also held in South Africa, when he opened the batting and bowled off spin. But that was about to change.

“I had made my debut for Munster Reds in the inter-provincials and was invited to an Irish session. I was waiting my turn to bat and bowling to Neil Rock.” The Ireland batter wasn’t impressed.

“Pebbles said to Jonty (Northern Knights coach Simon Johnston) ‘I can’t be facing this nonsense’. That stung a bit, but a few days later at Knights practice Jonty said ‘what’s the point in bowling spin if you don’t turn it. I bowled seam the rest of the practice and they saw something in it so told me to give it a crack and in the long term this would be better for you.

“You want to give yourself the best chance to succeed so If someone says this is the way to go, then I’m going to say ‘yes’. So I went back to Cape Town last winter and did a lot of work on my seam bowling and it developed pretty quickly, while keeping in contact with Eagy (Ireland bowling coach Ryan Eagleson) and Jonty, sending back video footage and there were lots of conversations as well.”

After his call-up for the Zimbabwe ODIs, he was selected for the Ireland Wolves tour to the UAE in April and while his numbers were nothing special on that trip, he had already been identified as one of Ireland’s reserve seam bowlers.

For now, though, everything is on hold for Neill, while he waits to learn the extent of the damage to his shoulder. He is still in a sling. Civil Service North (captain Stuart Thompson secured his signature when he was strength and conditioning coach at the Under-19 World Cup) will lose his services in the immediate future and then it will be a case of trying to get into an Ireland squad as a first-choice pick. But he insists there is no hurry.

“I’m young, I’ve a lot of time and the more I’m around to learn and develop will be better for my future, if I have one. But the last couple of trips have been an incredible experience because you are rubbing shoulders with guys who have been around for such a long time."

Indeed, Neill is so determined to keep himself involved that he is staying after this season to to experience his first Irish winter. 

Now that is dedication.