England may be the top Test side in the world, but it is a different story in the one-day game, where they are somewhat less than proficient. There was the 6-1 drubbing by Australia after the Ashes and the 5-0 whitewash in India later in the year. But no one expected them to lose to Ireland in the World Cup after they racked up 327 for 8. Not even Kevin O’Brien, who took matters into his own hands with a blistering hundred. In the Telegraph, Jonathan Liew recaps one of 2011’s Alternative Heroes.

Soon the required run-rate, which had threatened to climb into double figures, was heading south. “There wasn’t too much going through my head,” O’Brien says. “I just cleared my mind and told myself to enjoy it. We probably knocked them back a bit. With 16 overs to go, we needed six or seven an over. From there we thought: ‘Gee, we could win this game’.”

Cricket Ireland has set up its own online TV channel, including interviews and behind-the-scenes footage with a group of players who have suddenly become the hottest property in the World Cup. ESPNcricinfo has been granted a sneak preview of some of the best clips, including this performance from a certain Kevin O'Brien...

Ireland barely broke a sweat in retaining its ICC’s world league Division One championship against Scotland on Saturday. The result was hardly a surprise given the team’s dominance throughout the tournament, despite missing several key players. Writing in the New York Times, Huw Richards says Ireland's performance has strengthened its claim to become the world’s 11th Test playing nation.

Ireland’s usual captain William Porterfield, the hard-hitting batsman Niall O’Brien — the elder brother of Kevin — the wicket-keeper Gary Wilson and the fast bowler Boyd Rankin all missed the tournament in the Netherlands because of club commitments.

That Ireland did so well in their absence demonstrated impressive depth, in particular offering further evidence of the quality of two rising stars. Paul Stirling, a hard-hitting, heavyset batsman who will not be 20 until September, was Ireland’s highest and fastest scorer during the tournament.

Dermott Monteith, Ireland's all-time highest wicket-taker, died yesterday at the age of 66. The Belfast Telegraph looks back at his career.

Nowadays, Ireland cricketers can chalk up 76 appearances in barely two years. It took Dermott 19 summers. He missed 25 matches including Ireland’s most famous at the time, at Sion Mills when the West Indies were dismissed for 25. Although his bowling would not have been needed in that match, no one has bowled more overs for Ireland.

Ireland were, in many ways, the story of the World Cup. But now back in gloomier climes, a defeat to India and half the side missing, reality is beginning to sink in. It isn't, as Kevin Mitchell notes in The Observer, as glamorous as their Caribbean adventures.

This was colder, more familiar, more fundamentally an old-fashioned struggle against a world-class team than their Caribbean odyssey. Shorn of nearly half of that team, through injury and the demands of the County Championship, Ireland have been reacquainted with the realities of trying to master a summer game on an often wet island with limited resources. In that context, they did well again in grinding out 193 runs and using up all their wickets and all the deliveries sent down by India on a two-paced pitch before the rain came. They are never found wanting for effort.

In The Daily Telegraph Tony Francis travels to Ireland to see if the World Cup was a flash in the pan or something more significant. The findings are not that encouraging, but he does flag an interesting point when he talks to some players from Derry. They believe that:-

“The authorities should encourage indigenous cricketers and scale down their dependency on Australians, South Africans and Asians who migrated to Dublin when the economy took off in the Nineties. Unless they can block the drain of talent to England by contracting Ireland's young elite such as Boyd Rankin, Niall O'Brien and Eoin Morgan, who all play county cricket, they'll need more Johnstons and Bothas if they're to have any chance of building on their international success.”

The issue will continue to dominate as a number of players refuse to play for Ireland because of their count commitments.

“The Irish Cricket Union would rather avoid a repeat of the Ed Joyce scenario. While understanding his career decision and wishing him well at Middlesex, most followers were hurt to see an Irishman representing England in the World Cup. It was like watching Roy Keane sing God Save the Queen.”

Ireland aren't having much luck with coaches - the four-wheeled, not two-legged variety. Their vehicle to take them to Grace Road for their Intercontinental Cup final against Canada was delayed...and yesterday, en route to London, their team bus broke down. Fortunately, the local constabulary were nearby.

The Ireland squad arrived in London yesterday afternoon on a police bus, after their coach from Leicester was impounded at a service station just north of the capital.

Instead, they were guided into the London Gateway service station where the police told us they were carrying out a vehicle inspection check. This took place while the squad had an impromptu lunch. However, on their return, they were told the driver was "over his hours" and would not be allowed to drive for another 24 hours and the two rear wheels on the coach were found to be defective.

So much for a day off. Ireland play Surrey in a Friends Provident Cup match at The Oval on Sunday.