Has Irish Cricket's Time Arrived?

For the third World Cup in a row, the Irish have delivered an upset against one of the test nations.

Yet compared to their previous upsets against Pakistan and England, this didn't feel like an upset at all.

I guess we now expect Ireland to deliver the odd win against the test nation and this win chasing down 300 plus in their 2nd innings against the West Indies was a carbon copy of their shock win against England in Bangalore 4 years ago, with the likes of Paul Stirling, former England batsman, Ed Joyce, Kevin O'Brien, et. al hooking and pulling a West Indies bowling attack that is a shadow of its former self without any mercy.

Never have we seen minnows treat test bowlers with disdain on a pitch where the short ball deserved to be put away to the rope. It was all ruthless and thrilling.

Ireland's recent rise to respectable international cricket side is not dissimilar to an international rugby side from the Americas and the Emerald Isle will be hoping that the ICC are paying attention just as the IRB did following Argentina's meteoric performance in the 2007 Rugby World Cup by endorsing their inclusion in the Southern Hemisphere Rugby Championship.

It is funny to think that England is the only cricket power in the seasonal Northern Hemisphere - the Indian subcontinent and West Indies are quite tropical and don't really count. Having Ireland could be quite a nice addition and would be an easy inclusion on the itinerary of any cricket tour to England.

Cricket is definitely a sport on the rise, gradually gnawing away at the dominance of Gaelic sports in Ireland, with crowds at games rising. Now the Irish just need a few more test nations to pay them a visit even if it is just the odd one-off test.

Ireland have probably shown as much potential as Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka did prior to their inclusion into the test cricket fold and unlike another minnow with dreams, Kenya, probably have the organisation and finance to develop further as a respectable test nation. Dublin certainly has the grounds to host international one day cricket at the very least and they could easily afford to have grounds in Limerick, Belfast, Cork, etc.

So will those Irish eyes and souls be getting more chances to snare more scalps? I'm sure many cricket fans are hoping they will finally get their chance in the big time.