Proud moment for a lot of people who worked behind the scenes: Porterfield

A new chapter will be written in Ireland's cricket history when they take the field on Friday (May 11) for their maiden Test against Pakistan. Captain William Porterfield reckons that the biggest thing for Cricket Ireland, apart from getting Test status, was gaining full International Cricket Council (ICC) membership.

Ireland, along with Afghanistan, got full membership during ICC's meeting in London last June. The two countries were voted unanimously in the conference and since then they have had to wait for almost a year to play their first Test.

"Pretty excited. It has been a while building up to this and something that a lot of people are looking forward to; 14 or 15 here are no different than that. There will be a lot of different emotions on our minds in the next 24 hours," Porterfield said during the pre-match conference on Thursday (May 10).

The 33-year-old also acknowledged the work done behind the scenes to get Ireland where they are. They had been knocking on the doors of Test cricket for quite sometime and were given the status ten years after their historic World Cup win against Pakistan.

"It has been a long journey. But in some ways it has been a pretty quick journey as well. Throughout my career; in the past 10-12 years we have gone from having no ODI status to having ODI status and now having everything else. Tomorrow going out there and playing the first Test for Ireland. It has been lot of banging the doors and it is going to be a special occasion for the XI taking part tomorrow.

"We can easily talk about the last 5-10 years, but it is a proud moment for each and every cricketer that has played for Ireland. Off the field every administrator who has devoted his life and helped Ireland cricket at this moment. It is just that we are lucky enough to be representing Ireland and wearing that jersey, but there a lot of people behind the scenes who should be proud of this moment," he added.

It is now time for them to compete on the biggest of stages and getting full membership gives them the road map to plan their way forward. Cricket Ireland will have the ability to plan for the future and also structure their domestic circuit depending upon the demands of international cricket. They will also have to find a way to sustain the interest of young cricketers and ensure playing Test cricket remains the pinnacle.

"It is a combination of things. Every cricketer growing up wants to play Test cricket and as the name itself suggests, it is a Test for an individual and for a team. I think last June when the decision to become full member, Test cricket comes along with that. The biggest thing was getting full membership. This week is all about Test cricket but hopefully from financial aspect it opens up a beautifully to make the game competitive within Ireland, making it sustainable and getting more fixtures.

"Administrators can now plan not 6-12 months in advance but three years, with what kind of fixtures we will get and what kind of format we play. That's probably helping the board and the biggest thing from Cricket Ireland's point of view. Test cricket comes along with that and we are fortunate to get that opportunity. T20 cricket has taken over, but deep down every cricketer wants to play Test cricket," opined Porterfield.

The occasion of leading the country in their maiden Test is a proud moment for any player and Porterfield is no different. However, the Irish skipper played down the excitement and said it is going to be a massive moment for all the players and not only him.

"It obviously will be (a proud moment as captain). It will be for everyone that takes the pitch and some will look back at it in a couple of years time, whenever we end up finishing, it will be the proudest moment or one of them. We won't be thinking too much about that when we take the pitch," he said.

As the new chapter in Ireland cricket beckons, the focus will be on the eleven that take the field tomorrow against Pakistan