I don't see this as an upset, says Ireland captain after win over Windies

Ireland had endured a chastening build-up to the World Cup, struggling on their acclimatisation tour last autumn and then losing to Scotland (by 179 runs) and a Sydney grade side in World Cup warm-ups. Yet, for all that, the side has built up a reservoir of self-belief and know-how that allows it to consistently rise in crux situations.

So it proved at the Saxton Oval, where Scotland will play Bangladesh on March 5. Nelson is small town New Zealand; the whole town could not even fill up half of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The Saxton Oval, which has a capacity of 6,000, rather resembles an idyllic English outground. But it is now a part of World Cup history, scene of Ireland's four-wicket triumph over the West Indies.

In truth it was much more emphatic than that. Until a wobble of three wickets for six runs, Ireland were hurtling towards their target of 305. Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce and Niall O'Brien made 92, 84 and 79* respectively, each cruising along at more than a-run-a-ball. If the most brutal innings was Stirling's, the classiest was Joyce's. Always a supreme technician, he enjoyed his finest ever county season in 2014, when he hit eight first-class hundreds; he says that he has trained himself to be more instinctive and aggressive, and he showed as much by clearing fine leg with a hook from his ninth delivery.

It is testament to how far Ireland have come that few were surprised by the result. Certainly not Ireland skipper William Porterfield. "I don't see it as an upset," he said. "I actually hate the term upsets."

Knowing how short the window is when the world takes note of associate cricket, Porterfield complained about the injustices that non-Test members have to contend with: the obsession with status, unique to cricket; the lack of matches - Ireland played just nine ODIs against Test teams between the 2011 and 2015 World Cup; and the plans to reduce the size of the next World Cup.

"I don't get it," he said. "You don't see any other sport cutting teams in their top competitions. You're taking away opportunities for a lot of nations to get to World Cups and get to where they want to be and develop the sport in their country through publicity and everything like that so it is frustrating."

Porterfield's comments will not surprise any follower of cricket beyond the Test world. The difference, of course, is now Ireland have, once again, earned the right to be heard. And even before Ireland's win, support for the associate nations' inclusion in the World Cup was undoubtedly far greater than four years ago.

For those who implore cricket to think again about putting up the white flag on its global aspirations, there are a few sources of hope. The first is that, if Ireland are able to produce similarly strong performances in the rest of the World Cup, the lowest ranked full members - traditionally Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, but a list to which the West Indies can surely now be added - will become increasingly worried about their own prospects of qualifying for 2019, and so pressurise the ICC to change tack.

The second is that, unlikely in 2007 and 2011, Ireland will be backed-up by the performances of other associate nations. As a group, they are better prepared than any other associate representatives in a World Cup. Ireland have been soundly beaten by both Afghanistan and Scotland already in 2015.

"We associates have not helped ourselves over the years by failing to perform on the world stage collectively," says Warren Deutrom, the chief executive of Cricket Ireland. "Yes, we struggle for opportunities to get practice between World Cups, but until we perform as a group of nations and not just a one-off upset, our argument is that much weaker." If the associates are not united in producing strong performances this year, they may never get another chance to advance their case.