Ireland's Porterfield demands more exposure

Joy Chakravarty 05:10 11/03/2015
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  • Porterfield's side are in contention for a quarter-final berth

    William Porterfield insists two of the biggest weaknesses of Ireland – a fragile bowling attack and inability to play spin – could only be addressed if they get better exposure in international cricket.

    In yesterday’s match at Seddon Park, Ireland were doing extremely well against India’s pace attack, before floundering against the spinners. And then, defending a target of 260 runs, none of their bowlers looked like making any impression on the high-class Indian batting line-up. 

    Porterfield said: “I think exposure is a big thing. You probably heard me say it a thousand times, but we have played nine ODIs against the top eight teams in the last four years in between World Cups, which is not a lot when you consider a lot of countries are playing 25, 30-plus a year.

    “So that’s disappointing from our point of view to not get that experience and get those games under our belts. I think the skill factor is there.”

    Porterfield admitted Ireland did slow down when spin was introduced, but said it was part of a plan. However, the plan did not succeed as they kept losing wickets.

    “I think we did slow down,” admitted the captain. “But you have to give a bit of credit to Ashwin and others…they bowled very well.

    “We picked up a bit of momentum coming down to the Powerplay, but every time we did that, we managed to lose a wicket at crucial times.”

    Porterfield said the team is looking forward to what is now turning to be a do-or-die match for them against Pakistan in Adelaide on March 15 as far as qualifying to the quarter-finals is concerned.

    “We have chased down targets of over 300, and we’ve set 330-plus when we’ve batted first. So, I’m confident we can do any of the two in Adelaide,” said Porterfield.

    “We are focused on each game as it comes. We’ve only finished this one now, so the next couple days we will do our homework on Adelaide, and we will have everything behind the scenes ready and it’s just a matter of getting things right from there.”

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