William Porterfield. (Getty Images)
In a recent development, William Porterfield, the former captain of the Ireland cricket team, has stepped down from his position on the board of Cricket Ireland. This move comes less than a year after he took up the role as one of the four new directors appointed to the board in May 2023.
Porterfield’s departure from the Cricket Ireland board coincides with his recent appointment as an assistant coach at Lancashire, one of the prominent English county sides. Previously, he had been juggling his board responsibilities with coaching duties at Gloucestershire.
Warren Deutrom, the Chief Executive of Cricket Ireland, expressed his sadness at Porterfield’s departure, acknowledging the demands of his new role at Lancashire.“We were very sad to lose Porty but he just took up a job as assistant coach at Lancashire, That is a very tough, busy job so Porty wasn’t able to give the best of himself as a Cricket Ireland board director,” he said as quoted by The Irish Times.
Deutrom acknowledged Porterfield’s decision and his commitment to performing his duties to the best of his abilities. “It’s to his credit that he didn’t want to do the job unless he’s going to do it to the best of his ability,” he added.
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William Porterfield last played for Ireland in 2022
Porterfield’s illustrious career with the Irish national team spanned over 300 matches across all formats. He holds several notable records, including being the eighth-highest captain in terms of consecutive matches led and being part of the seventh-highest partnership for the fourth wicket in One-Day Internationals. Additionally, he stands second in winning all tosses in a Twenty20 International series.
Porterfield in his illustrious career played three Tests, 148 ODIs, and 61 T20Is for the Irish side. He scored 58 runs in Test cricket but in ODIs, he went up to score 4343 runs which included 11 centuries and 20 half-centuries, his highest score being 139. The shortest format of the game saw Porterfield hit 1079 runs.