A bonus for Ireland for their displays in the Caribbean is that India now seem set to play a warm-up friendly in Dublin against Trent Johnston's men.

Former Pakistan star Sarfraz Nawaz has offered his assistance to Ireland as they aim to continue their cricketing climb. Sarfraz . . . who played 55 tests and 45 ODIs between 1969 and 1984 and famously took nine wickets in an innings against Australia in Melbourne . . . said he was impressed with Ireland in recent weeks and would like to help bring them forward after the World Cup.

"They have been good, especially their bowling, and I would love to help them improve further in that area", he told the Sunday Tribune.

"Maybe they have been held back a little by nerves in this World Cup but they still ran England very close.

They also need to find more consistency in their batting and I think the real key is to start touring in winter. It would help them improve further and I'd like to be part of that if they wanted me."

I'm getting sorely irritated by the ungenerous attitude of much of the UK media to Ireland's World Cup success. From their snootiness before it started to their one-eyed obsession with our former Australians. And their ingratitude for nicking our best player. What topped it all though was the ignorance and insult in Mark Nicholas's column in the Daily Telegraph on Friday.

Writing of the early departure of India and the progress of Ireland, the Channel 9 showpony wonders:

"Should a country with a magnificent cricket history as India be so penalised and one with no history at all be so rewarded?"

While cricket in India has a long tradition, we have been playing the game here for more than two centuries . . . longer than the West Indies for example.

The summer action for Ireland's players kicks off less than 10 days after the last game in Grenada. But Phil Simmons will have to plan without one of his overseas professionals as the 21-year-old South African Vernon Philander has pulled out.

The Eastern Province all-rounder has a stress fracture and will be unable to travel.

It means Simmons will have to recruit two players quickly if Ireland are not to be at a disadvantage against the counties, many of whom will have a pair of top overseas professionals.

The first game in the Friends Provident (formerly C&G) Trophy is now in Stormont on Sunday 29 April, when Kent are the visitors.

The first of three games in Dublin is against Essex at Clontarf on13 May.

The excellent "lm A Good Innings about a season at the Civil Service club in Dublin gets a repeat on RTE today. The movie, made by Wildfire Films, is a marvellous story which makes stars of some of the characters in the Phoenix Parkbased club such as Anthony Morrissey and Gerry Kelly. It is shown in the Townlands slot on RTE One at 4.50.

Harry Thompson is one of England's funniest writers about sport, and his new novel Penguins Stopped Play: Eleven Village Cricketers Take on the World is no different: "It seemed a simple enough idea at the outset: to assemble a team of eleven men to play cricket on each of the seven continents of the globe. Except that's not a simple idea at all. And when you throw in incompetent airline officials, amorous Argentine Colonels' wives, cunning Bajan drug dealers, gay Australian waiters, overzealous American anti-terrorist police, idiot Welshmen dressed as Santa Claus, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and whole armies of pitchinvading Antarctic penguins, you quickly arrive at a whole lot more than you bargained forf" And you can claim a free copy of Penguins Stopped Play. . . . . . email me what you think will be Ireland's score after 50 overs against New Zealand on Monday. The three who are nearest to it win the books.