Ireland’s World Cup shock leaves Porterfield wanting more respect
IRELAND skipper Will Porterfield believes their four-wicket World Cup victory over West Indies in Nelson yesterday is further proof his side deserve greater respect from cricket authorities.
The Irish reached their victory target of 305 with 25 balls to spare, while Ireland have now posted three of the five successful World Cup run chases of totals in excess of 300.
Ireland’s success builds on previous World Cup scalps of England in Bangalore in 2011 and Pakistan in the Caribbean four years earlier, and Porterfield believes their record against Test-playing nations warrants more exposure to clashes against premier teams.
“We’ve played nine one-day internationals against the top eight teams in the last four years, which is frustrating, but we’ve come here after very little practice against opposition of that quality and shown what we can do,” said Porterfield.
“It’s fantastic for the lads to win against a team like West Indies and it’s right up there with our best achievements in the 50-over game.
“It would just be nice to have more fixtures like this outside of the four-year World Cup cycle. We’ll grasp any opportunity to play a top eight nation with both hands.
“Cricket seems to be only sport in which labels like ‘associate’ are used, rather than just having a straightforward ranking system. It’s frustrating but it is what it is.”