Those who have been watching the ever-growing form of cricket, Twenty/20, the world championships of which are currently being played in the Caribbean, can't help but have noticed the make-up of the Irish team, who only five or six years' ago were considered to be of the same standard as Bermuda.

And it's startling how much one has improved and the other declined.

No prizes for guessing which is which.

With coach Phil Simmons at the helm, the men in green certainly haven't disgraced themselves in Guyana despite the fact that they haven't progressed to the Super Eight stage of the world championships.

And that had much to do with the weather which wiped out the game against England who had been bowled out for a mediocre 120 and might have been saved by the rain which allowed their opponents to occupy the crease for little more than three overs, forcing the umpires to declare the game void.

What has impressed most about the Irish team is their bowling attack, a mixture of youth and experience.

Included in that attack are spinners George Dockrell, who at 17 is the youngest player in the tournament, and 19 year-old Paul Stirling.

Dockrell has been nothing short of sensational; he tied up the explosive West Indies bats and frustrated the England batsmen, conceding just 19 runs in four overs – in a game where runs normally come fast and furious.

Dockrell and Stirling are both products of the Ireland development programme and there are plenty of others in the squad in their early 20s who have followed a similar path.

Bermuda Cricket Board often stress that they are looking to the future to build a team which can compete at the Associate level. But it's clear others, such as Ireland, have made far more progress in that area.

After qualifying for the current tournament and having taken some major scalps in the 50-over game, there's even an argument that Ireland could compete at Test level, where they would be no pushovers for the likes of Bangladesh and Zimbawbe.

Former England player Peter Roebuck, now a respected commentator, says in a recent article posted on the Cricinfo website, that Ireland's application for Test status should be taken seriously.

Any suggestion that Bermuda could make a similar application in the forseeable future would be laughed at.

There's no doubt that through sheer hard work, determination and intense preparation, the Irish players have reached these dizzy heights in a relatively short time.

Less than 10 years ago, Bermuda would have been favoured to beat them.

Now they couldn't avoid a thrashing in any form of the game.

It's regularly pointed out that Bermuda have such a small pool of players to pick from that they can never be an international force.

Yet Ireland could make the same argument. Until the last World Cup in Trinidad, very few were aware their country even had a national team.

Football, Gaelic football, horse racing and golf have always dominated in Ireland.

Cricket was, and still is, considered a minority sport. There, too, are very few players available for selection. It certainly isn't considered a national sport as it is here.

Only last year cricket's world governing body, the ICC, declared Bermuda to have formed the best player development programme in the North Americas region and having the best Promotion and Marketing programme.

Maybe we deserved it but it doesn't say much for the programmes being developed in other countries in this region.

Compare our programme with Ireland's . . . well, there is no comparison.

Look where the Irish stand in world cricket these days, and look where Bermuda are.

Certainly our 17-, 18- and 19-year-olds wouldn't be able to match the likes of Dockrell and Stirling.

That's not to say we haven't got talent.

But we could certainly learn a lot from the Irish about how to develop that talent.

And that's the job that new coach David Moore faces following his arrival this week.

Could we be a formidable opponent as Ireland by the time the next Twenty/20 Worlds come around?

Maybe Moore will be able to convince his players and the country that we can.

– ADRIAN ROBSON