They said Ireland had nothing to contribute to this World Cup. They're not saying that any more.

Certainly not the world's media, who were clamouring for the attention of Ireland's leading players after the drama of their match against Zimbabwe on Thursday.

It is fair to say that they're not going to win the tournament, but they are winning friends.

Straight after the game on Thursday, captain Trent Johnston, coach Adrian Birrell and man-of-the-match Jeremy Bray sat before a mass of microphones, fielding questions in the sweaty confines of the post-match press conference centre behind the Sabina Park's enormous North Stand.

The lady from Sports Illustrated wanted some face time for a feature on cricket in Ireland. Fox, Sky and the BBC competed with ESPN and Indian journalists from Zee TV all looking for quotes. The front page of the Gleaner, the Jamaican national paper, led with Ireland's exploits. Andrew White's final over is on YouTube.

The relationship between sporting celebrity and the press is defined by tedious power games and mistrust on both sides. Set against this backdrop, Ireland's cricketers come across very well indeed.

It is no small compliment to say they talk like real people. They smile and are open and thoughtful; a breath of fresh air.

Unsurprisingly, it was Bray who received the most attention. His extraordinary century rescued an Ireland innings that after a terrible first hour was in danger of capitulating, taking any hope of further progress in the tournament with it.

"You looked like Matthew Hayden out there," said the guy from the Hindustan Times, comparing Bray to Australia's record-breaking opening batsman of the past decade. "Who are you? Where have you been?"

It was a good question. But not one the club cricketers around Dublin need answering. He spent the nine years flaying them to all corners of Leinster before spending last season playing for the Eglinton club in the northwest.

But the Hayden comparison is intriguing. How is it that someone who can play an innings like that, under such pressure, on the biggest stage in the world game, did not make it in the pro ranks?

Sitting in the more relaxed environment around the Ireland team's hotel the next morning, the 33-year-old Bray talks of his days in the brutal playground that is Australian state cricket.

It's a familiar tale of early promise going unfulfilled, or unfairly ignored, of missed opportunities that caused him to fall out of love with the game in his mid-20s.

At 19, Bray was considered one of the brightest prospects in New South Wales, a cricketing stronghold based on the highly competitive Sydney club circuit.

He scored heavily in an Australian under-19 team that contained future Test players Brad Hogg, Jimmy Maher and Shane Lee, brother of Brett. Ricky Ponting was selected for the team but not released by Tasmania, his state team.

Above him in the pecking order for the New South Wales team were the Australian Test openers Mark Taylor and Michael Slater.

"I was dejected because I wasn't selected for games when I thought I should have been, I thought they stuck with their golden boys over me at a time when I was scoring more runs," he says, before balancing it with some self-analysis.

"I probably enjoyed the party lifestyle too much," he says, laughing.

He came to Ireland in 1998 with his Irish wife, settling in Kilkenny.

"I wasn't really going to play cricket when I came to Ireland," he says, "I'd lost enthusiasm for the game. A mate persuaded me to go along to the Phoenix club in Dublin. I went, enjoyed the guys' company and it went from there."

He has spent the subsequent years plundering runs, first for Phoenix, then the Clontarf club.

Last summer he played for Eglinton in the northwest, which demanded a four-and-a-half-hour commute. The rationale behind the move was financial.

Bray says there is a market for talent in club cricket, and balances work as a fitness instructor with his cricket commitments.

He says the premium offered in the northwest outstrips what he could make in Leinster.

"The standard is not as high, but it is hard and aggressive cricket. I enjoyed my time up there, but it is a long way to travel. A lot of the clubs in Dublin can't afford to pay anymore. They were funded by wealthy businessmen, but they're finding they're not getting a return for the outlay."

He says he's undecided about where he will be playing this season.

"It all depends on a few things," he says laughing, rubbing his fingers in the universal gesture for money.

After his performance this week, he won't be left in the shop window for long.