Porterfield says Ireland deserved elevation

DUBLIN: Ireland captain William Porterfield was in no doubt his side deserved their elevation to Test cricket after a thrilling debut ended in a five-wicket loss to Pakistan.

“The biggest thing was how we fought back in the second innings with the bat — that showed the character we have,” he said.“It’s something that’s been talked about during big occasions, World Cups. That’s always been known to be there but Test cricket is Test cricket for a reason, it’s there in the name, you did get tested and we were after the first innings.

“To get up to close to 350 showed what we’ve got in the changing room and the passion that we have for playing our cricket.” The crowd briefly included 74-year-old Rolling Stones front man and cricket fan, Mick Jagger, but Porterfield hoped that the next generation of potential Irish cricketers would be more inspired by Kevin O’Brien’s hundred.

“Hopefully in the next week or two there’s going to be hundreds of little kids aspiring to be Kevin O’Brien in backstreet cricket,” the Irish captain said.“This Test match will have gone a long way to providing the next generation of cricketers, I’m sure.”

Yet the controversial decision to shrink the 2019 World Cup in England to a 10-team tournament and Ireland’s failure to come through an increasingly competitive qualifying tournament where only two spots were available means Porterfield’s men will be on the outside looking in next year.“We wouldn’t have got to where we were if we didn’t get those opportunities to put down a marker on the world stage,” Porterfield insisted.