Porterfield: We can qualify for next World Cup

IRELAND captain William Porterfield believes his side’s displays at the World Cup have proved they can overcome restricted qualification rules at future tournaments.

Ireland have impressed on the subcontinent, most notably when Kevin O’Brien’s astonishing century took them to the highest successful run-chase in World Cup history as they beat England by three wickets.

Their future opportunities will be hampered by the ICC decision to cut the tournament to 10 teams, but Porterfield remains confident.

“The ICC have made the decision and there’s nothing we can do about that. We’ve got to accept that, and the way we’re playing and as long as we keep progressing then we’d back ourselves to finish in the top 10.

Defeat to South Africa means Phil Simmons’ team cannot qualify for the quarter-finals, but Porterfield is encouraged by all aspects of his side’s performance. The Gloucestershire batsman said: “The way we’ve fielded, we’ve had a lot of comments — it’s one of the things we’ve worked hard on and pride ourselves on, especially our ground fielding.

“The way we’ve bowled, there’s no team that’s really taken us apart, and with the bat we feel we’ve put ourselves in winning positions and just haven’t managed to pull that through.

“We’ve had some really good partnerships, some 100-plus and 90-plus partnerships but we need another 60-70 partnership and a couple of 30-40 partnerships, that’s what gets you up to winning totals in this format, 280s and up and around 300. That’s what we’ve got to do and we’re not far off that.”

One game remains, with just pride to play for against fellow associate nation Holland. Porterfield insisted: “I wouldn’t say there’s nothing to look forward to. We’re playing in the World Cup against Holland and it’s very important for personal pride and Irish cricket to get a good result.”