William Porterfield wants Ireland be part of ICC’s Future Tours Programme
Ireland skipper William Porterfield wants his team, currently an associate nation, to become a full member of the International Cricket Council and a part of the Future Tours Programme.
“We want to get to a stage where we become a full member ourselves and are part of the Future Tours Programme,” said Porterfield on Wednesday. “We don't want to have players making that call (about whether to play for England).”
Being an associate nation, the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ireland-c751 cricket team does not play cricket at the highest level, the Test format.
They also do not get many opportunities to play One Day International cricket especially against big teams. As a result, most Irish players tend to play for England after fulfilling the requirements. Eoin Morgan is one such example of Irish talent playing
for England.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ed-Joyce-c1417, who is now back in Ireland squad after a brief stint with England, was the Irish player to set the tradition of playing for England. He has not played for England since the ICC World Cup 2007 and was given special privilege by the International
Cricket Council to return to his land of birth and represent it on international arena.
But Porterfield was hopeful a day would come soon when the cream of Ireland cricket would no longer seek place in foreign cricket squads.
Porterfield said that he wants Ireland cricket to be in a position where it contracts 12 to 15 full-time cricketers from Ireland.
“We've got a good few lads involved in (English) county cricket which is developing our game. It's a financial thing, a fixtures thing. But we're now at the stage where this is where we want to be,” said the captain and opening batsman of Ireland. “But in
an ideal scenario we want a future of more full-timers back home playing more games and hopefully we'll be a full member ourselves.”
Both England and Ireland play each other at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Wednesday- a match which is more likely to be a one-sided affair.
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