By Earl Moxam

Kingston (Jamaica), March 19 (IANS-CMC) Hundreds of Irish fans probably woke up with a hangover Sunday morning, having promised to party all night in celebration of their team's historic cricket World Cup win over Pakistan.

But Tom Prior, president of the Irish Cricket Union, is already busy plotting more sensational days and sustained growth for the country's cricket.

Prior, speaking to the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), asserted that this was only the start of a major push to build the game in Ireland and make the team globally competitive.

With that he rattled off several upcoming engagements for the team: "We're in the Inter-continental Cup final, we are the holders of the Inter-Continental Cup. We play in that final in England in late May. We're in the Trent Providence League, which pits us against... English county sides in April-May and we certainly will be competing at top level over the next number of months."

Former West Indies all-rounder Phil Simmons will take over as senior coach of the Irish team, succeeding South African Adrian Birrell after the World Cup.

This, Prior said, was part of a strategic plan to continue increasing the team's competency levels.

"We've been very lucky for the last five years to have had Eddie Burrell, a South African coach to bring us up from a 40 percent level of competency to a 70 percent level of competency, which is a huge, huge step. And we believe that now we're positioned to move on under the guidance of Phil Simmons and utilise his expertise to bring us up to, maybe an 80-90 percent level of competency."

Prior was also quick to dismiss suggestions that Ireland and other so-called 'minnows' in the game of cricket should not be allowed into the World Cup.

Highlighting the emergence of Sri Lanka from relative obscurity as an Associate nation in the early 1980's to World Cup champion in 1996, and Kenya's surprise semi final berth in the 2003, he said these were good examples of the success of the International Cricket Council's (ICC) development policy.

"We believe that for ICC to expand the game of cricket it can't be just the sole prerogative of the 10n test playing nations. We believe they've got to expand it to become a world game and that's why we strongly believe that the Associates have to be accommodated in the World Cup."

The Irish cricket boss bristled at suggestions that Ireland had used some 'imported' players (Australians Trent Johnston, Jeremy Bray and David Langford-Smith) to strengthen the team.

"We don't like to call them imported. We are a bit like England who plays Strauss, Ed Joyce, an Irishman, and, indeed Kevin Pietersen," he said.

Johnston, Bray and Langford-Smith, he said, had come across to Ireland and "married Irish girls and have come to live in Ireland and rear their families in Ireland. They are as patriotic and wear the shamrock as proudly today as any of our Irish born players".