John Kenny's World Cup Diary
Entry 14 - 1 April
The look of the Irish squad told it all. They were very disappointed to have lost to England in the World Cup Super Eight game here in Georgetown, Guyana.
Ireland let England off the hook in the last ten overs of their innings and the total of 266 was always beyond Trent Johnston's boys, especially after the early loss of Jeremy Bray and Eoin Morgan in Ireland's reply.
But it is just a measure of how far Ireland's squad have come since they qualified for the World Cup back in 2005 that they were down having lost to one of the Test playing nations.
But it is also a sense of reality.
The win over Pakistan is now just a memory and back-to-back defeats have shown just where Ireland stand in terms of world cricket.
That is not to knock the Irish squad, we will have enough be grudgers to do that, but playing against the likes of England, Australia and Sri Lanka will help Ireland to understand the world of international cricket.
Remember, the bulk of the Irish team are still amateurs getting time off work from generous employers back home to play the game they love.
The World Cup, and all it entails, such as media press conferences, being away from friends and family, and travelling as a squad, is all new to the Irish cricket team and my hat goes off to their efforts so far.
We got a chance to unwind after the English game and we visited a great Brazilian restaurant here in Georgetown where salad is taken from a buffet and the meat on skewers is brought to your table.
Buckets of it.
It was not a place to be if you are a vegetarian, but it was a great night and a good way to come down after an extraordinarily busy day at the Providence Stadium.
So now for Ireland it is a chance to regroup and get their thoughts together head of the game against South Africa here in Guyana on Tuesday.
It is a game that coach Adi Birrell has been look forward to as he desperately wants to put one over on the country of his birth.
It will be tough against the current world number ones, but Birrell, in particular, will be up for the challenge.
