Ireland might be riding high at the ICC World Cup after beating the West Indies, but in many ways they are on the outside looking in.
A long-time associate member, they were recently elevated to a ranking-based qualifying tournament for the 2019 ICC World Cup.
But Ireland still want to become a full test nations alongside the 10 current members. The last addition was Bangladesh in 2000.
Speaking to Off The Ball tonight, Cricket Ireland's CEO Warren Deutrom said: "They had done particularly well, Bangladesh, in terms of dominating the Associate Members for the previous few years. But if you look at Ireland's record and see what we've achieved, it's been extraordinary by comparison - not just against our fellow associate members, but against the rest."
We were also joined by Second XI: Cricket on the Outposts author Tim Wigmore who highlighted the lack of fixtures for Ireland despite a rapid improvement in recent years.
"Only in cricket, unique among sports, as a team gets better its opportunities get worse," he said.
"In 2007, there were a few matches in Ireland on the back of success in the World Cup. The ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) were very worried about this because the ECB wants to have a monopoly of cricket in Europe and Ireland is seen as a threat to that.
"So they got this deal where the ECB agreed Ireland to tour England every other year. But essentially the deal is getting worse all the time because as Ireland have got better, its case for more matches has increased and the ECB are showing more contempt for Ireland."
Wigmore also added that they have been "ruthless" in terms of recruiting Irish players.
Deutrom also felt the creation of the Newstalk Interprovincial Series has also been vital for the growth of the game in Ireland.
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