Will Porterfield says Ireland are looking to win every World Cup gameCaptain has dig at ICC over Ireland’s ‘associate member’ status

The Ireland captain, Will Porterfield, said his side’s victory over the West Indies was no upset – and his players are looking to win every game at the Cricket World Cup.

Porterfield was part of Ireland’s great World Cup wins against Pakistan and Bangladesh in their first tournament appearance in 2007, as well as the memorable victory over England in India in 2011. The bluff, no-nonsense Warwickshire professional now finds it irritating that the world continues to regard second-tier Ireland’s wins over top-eight rivals as a shock.

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“I don’t see it [beating the West Indies] as an upset, “ he said. “We prepared to come into this game to win. We’re going to prepare to go into the UAE game to win. It’s where we’re at. We’re looking to pick up two points in every game, and as long as we’re doing the right things and building up to that, then we’re happy.”

What really rankles with Porterfield is that, after proving themselves over such a long period on the world stage, Ireland is still regarded as an “associate” member of the International Cricket Council, excluded from the club of elite Test-playing nations. And when the next World Cup is contested by 10 rather than the current 14 nations, Ireland faces being left even further out of the old boys’ club of the ICC’s “member” nations.

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“I don’t see why a team has to be an associate and a team has to be a full member,” he said. “It’s like sure, you’re ranked or whatever. It’s not like that in any other sport, so I don’t see why it has to be like that in ours.”



Porterfield’s team won their opening Pool B match by four wickets in Nelson, chasing down the West Indies score of 304 for seven with 25 balls to spare thanks to half-centuries from Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien. They were coasting towards an even-more emphatic victory at 273 for two when they suffered the sudden loss of four wickets, slipping to 291-6 and sending pulses racing. But Porterfield never doubted his team was in control.

“I wouldn’t say [I was] concerned,” he said. “We obviously had a couple wickets lost there in the end, and that’s the way it goes. That’s cricket, but the game was played by then.”