Intro:

Ireland skipper William Porterfield has slammed the ICC saying it is disappointing for them to be considering reducing the size of future World Cup tournaments.

Script:

SOUNDBITE (English) William Porterfield, Ireland captain (on, a record of 13 straight wins against UAE)
"It's obviously a decent record, but it doesn't account for anything. In any game you've got 11 on 11 and two horse races. It's anyone's game. Obviously, if we go in there and play the kind of cricket we want to play, then I'll be happy, and the result can go from there".

SOUNDBITE (English) William Porterfield, Ireland captain (on, has he protected the team from increased expectations after their opening win against the West Indies)
"No, not really. We've spoken openly about wanting to make the quarter-final. At least, that's our first goal. We've come here and expecting to get through the group. Internally as a squad, it's something we've spoken about and something we want to do. So, obviously, winning each game or taking each game as it comes is one of those processes. Starting again, we're going to have to do that tomorrow. We can't expect to pick up where we left off against the West Indies. I think it would be foolish to do that".

SOUNDBITE (English) William Porterfield, Ireland captain (on, talk that the ICC want to cut down the size of future World Cups and further limit the amount of countries that participate)
"Yeah, definitely. I think it's frustrating whenever you come to tournaments and the governing body wants to keep cutting teams. I think it's the only sport in the world that does that when it comes to world events. You have your Champions Trophy every couple years and that's with the top eight teams. And it wouldn't be a World Cup if you just keep reducing teams and having only the top few teams that are ranked. So it's very disappointing and frustrating from our point of view that that's the way ICC is viewing things or that's the way they want things to be. Hopefully we can keep improving performances".

SOUNDBITE (English) William Porterfield, Ireland captain (on, the associate nations not playing enough cricket outside of World Cup years)
"Well, I would say we've played nine ODIs against the top eight teams in the last four years. That's not a lot of cricket. We're playing two games a year against top nations, so if you want the game to expand, you have to talk about preparation. In terms of games, we haven't been prepared. We've only played six games in this World Cup as a group stage minimum, and we've played nine in the last four years. That's not acceptable. It's not what we want. It's not what developing the game is about. If you add up the amount of games the four teams have qualified, I wouldn't think it's a lot. We'd be struggling to touch on 20".