William Porterfield said his side need to “park the game and leave it in Bristol” after they were heavily beaten in the first ODI against England
Andrew McGlashan in Bristol05-May-20171:08
‘We can’t play like that at this level’ – Porterfield
William Porterfield, Ireland’s captain, is hoping the inspiration of playing an international against England at Lord’s for the first time will help his team quickly move on from their heavy defeat in Bristol.Ireland were beaten by seven wickets with barely half the 100 overs needed as Adil Rashid took 5 for 27 to run through their middle order – the innings collapsing from 81 for 2 to 126 all out. They now have little more than 24 hours to refocus on Sunday’s game at Lord’s where more than 20,000 spectators are expected, including plenty from across the Irish Sea to bolster those who had travelled to Bristol.”You don’t become bad players overnight. It was one bad game, one bad day at the office. Losing the way we did isn’t ideal but it’s a mental thing to turn it around,” Porterfield said. “We will have an open and honest review, park the game and leave it in Bristol. I think it should be pretty easy to park it once we get to Lord’s – you have to be able to get fired up for a game at the Home of Cricket.”He also refused to accept that Ireland were out of their depth against an England team who are among the favourites for the Champions Trophy. In the initial skirmishes Ireland’s batsmen, especially the openers Ed Joyce and Paul Stirling, went toe-to-toe with England’s quick bowlers before being unable to cope with Rashid’s variations.”I’d never use the phrase ‘out of depth’,” Porterfield said. “I think we started off pretty positively, the way the two lads went about it and we threatened to rebuild after we lost those two wickets in two overs. We wouldn’t necessarily have envisaged that spin would do the damage and, not taking anything away from Rashid, we should have played it a lot better. That’s something we need to mentally put right for Sunday.”Despite the problems they encountered facing Rashid – which followed their difficulties in combating Afghanistan’s Rashid Khan, who took 16 wickets in the recent five-match ODI series against Ireland and nine in three T20s – Porterfield said that what England’s legspinner had delivered was no different to what they were expecting.”We know he’s going to bowl a lot of googlies, it’s what he does, especially to the left handers,” he said. “It’s his main wicket-taking ball. It’s nothing new, we just need to play it better. I’d guess he’s right up there in England’s wicket-taking list in ODIs the last few years.”It wasn’t only Rashid’s spin that posed problems. Joe Root chipped in with two wickets – including that of Porterfield with his second ball – after England had opted for just the one frontline spinner due to Bristol’s short, straight boundaries, which meant no place for Moeen Ali. Although the selection here was very much conditions-specific, there could yet be pressure on Moeen for his place at the Champions Trophy with Eoin Morgan saying Root could become a more regular option with the ball.”Yes, potentially he is. I think you find a lot of teams we come up against under-estimate Joe [as a bowler], and using him has worked for us,” Morgan said.However, England’s biggest gain was without doubt Rashid even though there will be far tougher days to come. He briefly lost his place in the one-day side in India after being plundered for 50 off five overs in Pune before returning for the three-match series in West Indies in March. With variation being an element England are always looking to have in their attack, an in-form and confident Rashid would be a significant tick.”It was Adil’s day today. I thought he put in a magnificent effort with the ball,” Morgan said. “He had a tough winter and has learned a huge amount to come back today with a huge amount of confidence to bowl his variations and show how threatening he can be.”
