Former (Belfast) News Letter sports feature writer Richard Bullick first covered Irish cricket in the early 1990s. He joined the CricketEurope team for the World Cup.

Given the ever-present threat of nasty sniping from the perennial begrudgers, it was great that an Irishman born-and-bred should play the incredible innings needed for Ireland to pull off their famous victory over England.

When Ireland beat Pakistan at the 2007 World Cup, there was an irritating tendency for the media to focus on the presence of four 'foreign' players in the team in the then captain Johnston, key all-rounder Andre Botha, opening batsman Jeremy Bray – who scored a century in the tie against Zimbabwe – and opening bowler Dave Langford-Smith. Four years on, for this even more special victory over our big near neighbours, the contigent of players not born on this island had been halved with Johnston joined by fellow Aussie Cusack – Brisbane-born but resident in Ireland and playing for Clontarf.

The top six in the Ireland order last Wednesday were all born in the country they were representing in contrast to the opposition line-up – four of whose top six were born outside of England with Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood, subsequently replaced by British Indian Ravi Bopara, the exceptions. Ironically it could have been five had England's best limited overs batsman Eoin Morgan – previously poached from Ireland, ironically – not been unavailable through injury. So let's hear no more of mercenaries or non-nationals from anyone in England especially.

Johnston, Botha, Bray, Langford-Smith, Cusack and several others including Regan West, Albert van der Merwe and Nigel Jones have genuinely embraced Irish cricket, really bought into the set-up and have made a major contribution. They are far better Irishmen in terms of loyalty and what they have given to the country's cause than spoilt brat soccer star Stephen Ireland from Cork whose latest outburst this week contrasted so starkly with the impeccable conduct of our cricketing heroes.

But better for the watching world and a newly interested Irish public alike that the main man on this occasion came with full home-grown credentials and, as a bonus in that context, this time the captain doesn't have an Aussie accent unlike Johnston in 2007. For the unconnected casual observer it adds authenticity and helps them identify with Ireland's incredible win

Talking of changes from the last World Cup, it's interesting to note that last Wednesday's winning line-up showed six changes from the team which toppled Pakistan in the 2007 World Cup, with the O'Brien brothers, current captain William Porterfield and Rankin being the five survivors.

The six missing men were the retired trio of McCallan, Bray and Langford-Smith, Morgan who has defected to England, the injured Botha and White, who lost his place after the Bangladesh defeat in the previous game. They have been replaced by Ed Joyce, returning in the opposite direction to Morgan, the promoted Mooney, Wilson, Cusack and promising youngsters in teenage spin star Dockrell and explosive 20-year-old opener Paul Stirling so no-one could claim that Ireland haven't refreshed their team with exciting indigenous talent in the intervening four years.

The fact Dockrell and Stirling seem so ready for the big stage at such a tender age is a tribute to the excellent youth system in Irish cricket which has brought the country such success at age-group level in the past decade. It all augurs well for the ongoing development of the game in Ireland and, whether or not Phil Simmons' side can manage more heroics in this tournament to secure a quarter-final spot, the win over England has already guaranteed another bounce for the sport in this country.

There happens to be strong representation from both jurisdictions on the island and the fact that the three main cricketing regions are represented – with Porterfield and Rankin flying the flag for the North West even though both are based in England these days – is helpful in ensuring that the sense of ownership of this success will be as wide as possible.

Anyone who has been following Ireland's World Cup campaign through Sky Sports or BBC radio's Test Match Special coverage can't have failed to be impressed with the contributions of former Ireland captains Kyle McCallan and Alan Lewis, who have both been great additions to their respective media teams.

Affable and articulate, they've both been brilliant ambassadors and advocates for the Irish cricketing cause during the course of their illustrious playing careers – each having retired, 12 years apart, as their country's most capped player at that time, an overall record Kyle still holds. They're both great guys who have been worth their weight in gold to Irish cricket and their unsurprisingly smooth transition to broadcast media punditry has served as a reminder of the big boots current captain William Porterfield has had to fill in leading the green revolution in these exciting times.

Not only is the Donemana man the on-field general who has to keep Ireland moving forward in the face of heightened expectation and demands: these days the men in green are flying the flag for all associate nations as the established elite make moves to shut them out of their cosy club. He has taken to the leadership role in impressive fashion on and off the field and is now very evidently at home in a position which he was earmarked for from an early stage having led Irish age-group teams throughout his development – another endorsement of this country's youth system.

Selected as a relatively raw opener for the last World Cup, controversially so in some eyes at the expense of the then recently-deposed captain Jason Molins – who was axed after leading Ireland to the promised land – Porterfield played second fiddle to the Australian-born Jeremy Bray, who scored a century in the tie with Zimbabwe, though his fantastic fielding didn't go unnoticed. Four years on and the 26-year-old, who recently moved from Gloucestershire to Warwickshire, is very much the main man – an experienced professional player who has scored heavily and at a reasonable rate at the top of the order for Ireland in the past couple of years and is clearly comfortable in his own skin as captain.

In spite of his rapid-fire delivery in an accent which more than the wider world can sometimes struggle to decipher, Porterfield isn't an obviously charismatic character who loves the limelight like Lewis and McCallan. He hasn't a natural aura about him like Molins and lacks the physical stature or worldly-wise Aussie street cred of veteran slugger Johnston.

But Porty strikes you as a ferocious competitor, deceptively self-confident, mentally tough, hungry to learn and a proactive captain who will try things and follow his instincts. Clearly coach Phil Simmons is influential too, but the skipper can take personal pride in how Ireland have impressed people with their approach and tactics in this tournament – being branded innovative rather than formulaic for, for example, keeping more men inside the circle than they were required to at times against England and of course taking the batting powerplay early in the same match. It was thanks mainly to Kevin O'Brien that that move reaped remarkably rich rewards but you suspect some supposedly superior sides would have missed the trick altogether.

Getting out in unfortunate fashion to the first ball of Ireland's innings prevented Porterfield from making a captain's contribution to that incredible chase against England but he bounced back with a very fine 75 in difficult circumstances four days later against tournament favourites India when the loss of two very early wickets at the other end encouraged the home bowlers and a fanatical crowd of 40,000 alike. The hard edge developed in North West club cricket as a youngster still serves him well but he has had the drive and discipline to take his talents to the bigger stage and make the most of them.

Involved in the run-out of Niall O'Brien after a superb partnership of over 100 for the third wicket, William would want to have stayed until late in the innings and may feel he gave his wicket away to the first ball after drinks but by then he had already set his team well on their way to another respectable performance and result. He'll have an important part to play in tomorrow's crunch clash with West Indies as the men in green go for the win which would give them a great chance of making the knock-out stages.

It might mainly be coming from internet nutters, greedy bandwagon-jumpers and biased begrudgers but it's been slightly surprising to see some sharp criticism of Ireland's World Cup campaign in spite of the historic victory over England and far-from-humiliating defeats against two teams playing in their own backyard, including tournament favourites India, plus twice former winners West Indies.

The team may be hard on themselves for failing to beat Bangladesh or overcome West Indies and we should applaud and encourage that ambition, but in the cold light of day we really have no right to expect Ireland to be beating ICC full members on a regular basis, or demand that every player performs to their full potential every time when that doesn't even happen with top teams in any sport. Disappointment is one thing but actual accusations of underachievement are a bit much.

Of course we want Ireland to do well and the team's extraordinary exploits in recent years in turning dreams into glorious reality has spoilt us by creating enormous expectations. So it's natural, and in fact a tribute to the team, that we would think them capable of beating Bangladesh – even in their own buzzing backyard – as they'd tamed the Tigers in both previous competitive clashes on the world stage. Likewise, that the crunch clash with the Windies could be branded a winnable game.

That Ireland didn't do either seems set to cost the team a place in the last eight in spite of eclipsing England and maybe even if they stun South Africa on Tuesday it won't be enough to keep quarter-final qualification hopes alive. But even if Ireland make an early exit this time – for a change – their campaign certainly couldn't be branded a failure providing they don't slip up against the Dutch in the final group game. After all, we must not forget that, for all their heroics and ambition, Ireland remain one of the sport's minnows – an associate nation not allowed at the top table and thrown a little loose change rather than the big bucks the ICC shells out to the established elite. It isn't anywhere near a level playing field and anything achieved at a tournament like this is against overwhelming odds.

With extra exposure and some success comes closer scrutiny – as someone said, if you want to be noticed you must also accept being judged – and it is a mark of what is now expected of the men in green, of the unprecedented profile the team has gained and how far Irish cricket has come that they're increasingly the subject of considerable comment among media, pub punters and anonymous keyboard warriors alike. In terms of heightening the expectations of a previously disinterested and ignorant Irish public and shedding their surprise package perception in the eyes of the watching world, the present players are essentially victims of their own success in that they are now being judged by ridiculously high standards which take little account of context.

Although those involved wouldn't want it any other way as they seek to push their boundaries still further, for the rest of us to use any slight setback as a stick to beat them with would be utterly unfair. It is inevitable that patriotic hearts will try to rule rational heads, but blind faith and day-dreams shouldn't shut down our facility for fair-minded acknowledgement of realities. So although beating Bangladesh and the West Indies was a legitmate target for upwardly-mobile Ireland and these were essentially must-win matches if the team was to back up the precedent – as already said, they have set a very high bar – of reaching the second stage in top tournaments, they weren't favourites for either game.

While we were disappointed that they couldn't claim either or both scalps, much of the criticism of Ireland's 'failure' to take them is ill-informed, unnecessary or over-the-top – not least because it takes no account of the glaring gap in playing numbers, resources, experience and cricketing culture which makes even the weaker of the established sides veritable Goliaths to Ireland's daring David.

Moreover, a lot of the specific criticisms levelled at Ireland individually and collectively could as easily be directed at supposedly superior sides and higher profile players. For example, Ireland aren't the only team to have faltered in pursuit of an apparently modest target as against Bangladesh – think South Africa against England – or be blown away by one devastating display of big-hitting. Our own Kevin O'Brien did to England what West India Kieron Pollard inflicted on Ireland.

We can consider this match-by-match analysis at greater length later in the campaign and also assess individual players with reference to counterpart performances. For example, those who would pillory Paul Stirling for failing to make much mark so far at the top of the order could readily find more obvious under-achievers than the 20-year-old opener. Likewise, while our best batsman Ed Joyce didn't deliver the weight of runs expected in Ireland's first three fixtures before blossoming against the Windies, he had easily outscored one of the game's global giants in South African counterpart Jacques Kallis.

Although Ireland's opening bowler Boyd Rankin was expensive in the first two matches and had to wait until the fourth for his first wicket, he has subsequently shown impressive improvement in contrast to his heralded English equivalent James Anderson who has remained a liability. Most of William Porterfield's players have chipped in usefully at some stage, either contributing consistently like Niall O'Brien or doing something spectacular on a one-off basis like his brother Kevin. And hopefully there's much more still to come, starting on Tuesday!