Porterfield harbours high hopes

Will Porterfield is confident Ireland can cope without Eoin Morgan, who made his England one-day debut earlier this week

Losing your leading batsman on the eve of the biggest tournament in a nation's history once is bad luck. Doing it twice seems careless.

In Ireland's case, they have little choice but to watch Ed Joyce and Eoin Morgan line up for England. For them, and other hopefuls like Will Porterfield, the lure of Test cricket remains too strong.

It is one of the quirks of modern cricket that, months after helping secure Ireland's passage to the World Twenty20, Morgan could find himself taking guard for England against the country of his birth.

“It's a massive blow,” Ireland captain Porterfield said. “I don't think it's any secret that Eoin was our best player. It leaves a big hole at number three.

“You don't ever get used to losing your best players. But it's an ambition of any cricketer to play at the top level. That's the next step for anyone playing in county cricket or for Ireland - to go on and play for England.

“I hope it goes really well for him. And I think congratulations should go to Ireland for producing cricketers who are good enough."

Even in Morgan's absence, Porterfield harbours genuine hopes of emulating Trent Johnston, who memorably led Ireland to the Super Eight stage of the 2007 World Cup, beating Pakistan and Bangladesh along the way.

A 24-year-old opening batsman from Londonderry, Porterfield has presided over 12 months of astounding success in which Ireland negotiated their passage to the World Twenty20, successfully defended their ICC Intercontinental Cup, and dominated last month's 2011 World Cup qualifying tournament in South Africa.

The ruthlessness shown by Porterfield's Ireland has confirmed them as the undisputed leading Associate member of the International Cricket Council.

“That sort of success has been coming," said Porterfield, who plays county cricket for Gloucestershire.

Porterfield has enjoyed great success since being appointed captain of Ireland and is happy with his side's development

“In the World Cup qualifiers, it would have been very easy to get complacent, especially after the first game against Scotland, which we won easily.

"We coped with that really well. There was real hunger and desire to win a tournament we'd never won before.

“The nucleus of the squad is still there from the 2007 World Cup, and we've added the likes of Peter Connell and Regan West, so it was no real surprise. We now have more depth and there's more quality to choose from.”

Appointed captain at 23, Porterfield faced the same challenge as Graeme Smith took over as South Africa skipper - how to lead cricketers with appreciably more experience than himself.

“I've enjoyed it,” says Porterfield. “I've captained throughout the Ireland age-groups, but I got the job slightly earlier than I expected.

“Having all the old heads there, such as Trent and Kyle (McCallan) makes it easier as you have experience to draw on in tight situations.

“They don't have the pressure of making the final decisions, but they can look at things from a different viewpoint.”

Many an Irish stereotype was trotted out during Ireland's Caribbean adventure in 2007, inevitably perhaps, given that victory over Pakistan coincided with St Patrick's Day.

But commentators may be forced to reassess Irish cricket. It emerged that the recent campaign in South Africa was achieved 'dry', after coach Phil Simmons enforced a ban on alcohol for the duration of the intensive tournament.

“Big Phil brought that in,” confirmed Porterfield. “He said it was the most important two weeks in Irish cricket history, and it was. I don't think it was too ridiculous a rule.

“We had 10 games in 20 days; there wasn't too much time to drink anyway. It was a one-off scenario - that's just the way it worked out.”