Emerging Ireland went down by a whopping 433 runs against the West Indies Academy in the final game of their short trip to Antigua.

The hosts Kevin Wickham unbeaten 105 saw them finally declare their second innings on 321 for 8 - setting Emerging Ireland an unlikely 576 run target.

One high in a series of lows was the second five-wicket haul for Tom Mayes giving him 10 in the match.

Murray Commins was unable to bat having been concussed after being hit in the face and banging his head while dropping a catch, with Fionn Hand his replacement.

Ireland would have hoped for some fight from their batsmen to end the match on a positive, but there was more of the same as they slumped to 108 for 9 - Stephen Doheny's 23 the best at that point.

Liam McCarthy decided to go down swinging as he hit six fours - including four in four balls - on his way to a top-score of 32 as he and Matty Foster shared the biggest stand of the innings for the last wicket - 34.

These games have been a hard school for the Irish who have been increasingly outplayed by their opponents. 

It's certainly been an eye-opener with the gulf in quality on show, but given the lack of red-ball cricket for the Irish over the past few years and the complete absence ence of a Wolves programme, should we be surprised?

Things can only get better.