Sunday September 19, 2010

William Porterfield’s 2010 summer ended shortly after 5pm on Thursday, but his 2010-11 winter began just 18 hours later when he climbed on board a flight to Johannesburg. It was the first leg of his trip to link up with his Irish teammates in Harare for a series of games against Zimbabwe.
“I’m just sitting here in the dressing room at Bristol having a few beers”, he told Inside Edge. “We didn’t win today but it was a good season. I’m very happy with the way it went.” The Ireland captain topped the Gloucestershire batting averages - scoring two big hundreds - despite playing less than half the games.

Porterfield is still undecided whether his future lies in Bristol, with more than a quarter of the counties keen to secure his signature. “They have offered me a new contract but at the moment I just want to concentrate on the cricket. In October I’ll decide what’s best for me and my game. I don’t want to jump into anything.”

But whether he chooses Gloucestershire, Sussex, Surrey, Nottinghamshire or Warwickshire, the county he signs for won’t see an awful lot of him until next April. Porterfield is off to India before Christmas for a short Ireland tour, with more warm-ups in February before the ICC World Cup in Asia.

He gets back into action tomorrow against Zimbabwe. “The tour is massive, as we could go ninth in the world rankings if we win all three ODIs.”