I think it's fair to say that this would be the first time we have failed to deliver in terms of what the cricketing world expects of us.

We haven't played our best cricket. Or in fact anywhere near our best but we have qualified for another world tournament. Our 7th in a row.

Playing at home in a tournament is a new experience for most of the squad and even for the guys that played back in the 2008 edition it's still a bit of a novelty.

There's nothing better than a three day win and although they don't come around that often, ours, against Gloucestershire this week was our third inside four games.

Losing to Scotland always hurts so I'm sure it will have been no different for the lads last week when the lost the two t20 games at Bready.

The clash between Moises Henriques and Rory Burns was the worst thing I've ever seen on a cricket pitch!

I reckon when Tim Murtagh was passed fit to play in the ICup match against the UAE last week he probably didn't think he would have to work so hard to get one wicket!

I was actually quite pleased for Alistair Cook that England got the win in the end. The media barrage that he would have faced had England not taken that last wicket would have been huge.

The first two days of our Championship game have been badly rain affected. That means one thing, the changing room becomes a play room for the likes of Jason Roy and Rory Burns.

If anyone had forgotten what it was like to field in county championship cricket we were reminded pretty quickly last week.

There is that excitement of a clean slate, in our case the chance to gain promotion to division one of the county championship.

Coming home from the World Cup last Tuesday, was difficult. We felt like we deserved to be there for at least one more week.

It's been a tough day for us having been beaten by eight wickets against the world champions India in Hamilton, New Zealand.

A look at the build up to the crucial game against the UAE in Brisbane.

What a day, another great win for Ireland in a World Cup but this one was slightly different. It was our best win by far.

We have had a pretty good first week in Australia. The Randwick Petersham Club could not have done any more for us.

We arrived in Sydney on Saturday evening Australian time which is 11 hours ahead of the UK and Ireland. We are staying in a suburb to the South East of the city called Coogee.

They may have been practice games but they were still eight games in an Irish shirt and those guys will have learned a great deal. The tour may not have gone to plan but World Cup games aren't won in October.

Losing our leader for the last four games of the trip is a huge blow. He leads both on and off the field through attitude and through his weight of runs. The sooner we have him back the better.

I knew straight away that I was in a bit of trouble but quickly checked to make sure it wasn't out of place.

We arrived in Australia last Wednesday minus a further player, Tim Murtagh had been pulled out of the trip.

I say it came to a close, but these days for Irish players there is no real close. The World Cup preparations actually started today when 13 of the lads boarded an emirates flight to Dubai before going on to Australia.

Last week was one of the most frustrated I have felt on a cricket pitch. In their second innings, we had Worcester 34 ahead of us 7 wickets down when Jack Shantry strolled to the crease.

We have had a very quiet week since finals day so I took the opportunity to go away for a couple of days with my wife, Jennifer.

Finals day ended much too prematurely for anyone involved with Surrey. By 3.30pm we were back at the hotel catching the afternoon football.

This week saw us qualify for T20 Finals day for the second year in a row.

The season has around a third of the way to go, but it seems as though we have been playing every day.

The new Surrey captain on a rain affected draw with Essex and a sweet victory in the London derby.

I take on the mantle of captaincy at Surrey following a knee injury to Graeme Smith.

T20 action gets under way with Kevin O'Brien joining Gary in the Surrey side.

It's back to county cricket this week for most of the Irish team and back to conditioning and training for the home based players.

Gary Wilson looks back to the Sri Lankan series which ended in disappointment.

With the dust now settled on a winter away from home and ultimately a disappointing performance at the World Cup there is still much to be optimistic about.

Freaky Friday saw a chastened Ireland crash out of the T20 World Cup.

Gary Wilson looks back on the nerve jangling T20 World Cup win against Zimbabwe.

The reality is that we continuously start tours slowly. What is also true, is that the games in the Middle East last week will have no bearing on how we do on the sub continent over the next two or three.

What was particularly pleasing was that over the two T20 games Alex Cusack was named man of the series.

Our Trinidad leg of the trip has come to an end and the results we were looking for didn't quite transpire.

There have been two bits of news that have dominated the cricket world in the past week and I guess I have close links with both.

Gary looks at the Ireland squad selection for their tour of the Caribbean.

Church, the pub, Leopardstown, England woes in the Ashes, and Jacques Kallis all come under the Gary Wilson microscope.

Gary Wilson lauds Sir Roy of Portrush and Sir Alex of Govan.

197 matches, 1620 overs, 270 wickets, 2579 runs. One Irishman born in Wollongong, NSW, Australia. That's what he is to everyone that has had the pleasure of watching Trent Johnston over the last 10 years.

Tired but happy - Gary Wilson reflects on another World Cup qualification campaign.

Gary Wilson brings cricket fans up to date with his latest column.

Gary Wilson has never lost to the Netherlands and the in-form Surrey professional has no intention of starting now, eight years after his first game against the Oranjemen.