New Scotland cricket captain Ryan Watson insists that Ireland's exploits at the World Cup in the Caribbean are proving a lot of commentators wrong.
Watson took over the leadership duties from Craig Wright after Scotland were eliminated from the World Cup at the end of the group stage.
While he was at Lord's yesterday for the launch of the Friends Provident Trophy, Ireland were still in Barbados preparing for Friday's Super Eight clash with Australia.
Watson concedes Scottish cricket has 'stagnated' over the last two years and the game needs the injection of semi-professional contracts.
But he is convinced the future is promising - and that Scotland could have matched Ireland's Caribbean achievements had things gone differently.
'I look at Ireland with envy because they are still there and we are back home,' said Watson.
'But I don't think they are overtaking us. We had a good tournament at the World Cricket League in Kenya earlier this year, won tight games and reached the final.
'Then we went to the World Cup, the batters didn't fire and confidence wasn't what it could have been.
'Ireland had a tough time in Kenya and lost four out of five - but they have now got a bit of confidence going and that has turned into good results.
'They are on a roll and have just had a great tournament. We have already had more youngsters than ever signing up at clubs. We are feeding numbers into the system at junior level so it does bode well.'
The on-field rivalry between the two countries may be fierce - but there is still a sense in the Scotland camp that Ireland are flying the flag on their behalf at the World Cup.
Critics argued that ICC Associate nations Ireland, Scotland, Canada, the Netherlands and Kenya should not have been at the World Cup.
But Watson said: 'When an associate team plays against a Test team we are all rooting for one another.
'It has got to the stage now where we got so much stick for going to the World Cup that we almost came together and it is great to see Ireland proving some of the commentators wrong.
'I look on them as a good example of what associate cricket can do.'
