JOIN USIreland have provided themselves in with a chance to make the knockouts and their skipper William Porterfield felt his team’s performance will go a long way in popularising the game.
“Yeah, obviously, firstly, that's a tag I don't like,” he began. “I think associates, I don't think teams should be associated any differently, and putting those tags on us. As far as I'm concerned, there is a ranking system in place and that's where we're at. As far as the publicity and the hype back home with the minutes right up there, you speak to people who are back home and the stories that you see coming out are great, and that's where cricket is going in Ireland,” he noted.
But Porterfield cautioned the International Cricket Council that cutting down the number of teams for the next World Cup wasn’t the way forward.
“… Hopefully we do make those quarterfinals and keep pushing on as a country ourselves, and hopefully the ICC will take notice and we'll start looking at the next World Cup. Obviously, cutting teams in the World Cup isn't the way forward unless that's the vision for the game. But if you want to progress your game and grow the game of cricket, then cutting teams in world competitions isn't the way forward.”
Porterfield admitted Tuesday’s game against India will be their toughest. “They've been pretty good with the count,” he said when asked if his team in a good space mentally.
“Obviously winning helps that, so yeah, being three from four is a nice position to be in. Every next game is our toughest game but it happens to be India, so yeah, the next challenge is the one we're looking forward to. So we're in a good place now. We've just got to bring that form into tomorrow,” he remarked.