A TIE AGAINST the Netherlands in Amstelveen saw Ireland become the first team to earn qualification for the 2015 World Cup yesterday.
Ireland’s topscorer Ed Joyce, with 96 from 113 balls (5 fours, 1 six), will be taking part in his third World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and expressed his delight at the achievement.
“It feels absolutely amazing,” Joyce said. “We came here to get through and win the competition and we’ve done the two. If you had offered us three points beforehand we would have taken it.
“We’re absolutely overjoyed. It’s the pinnacle of what we can do. We’re a good side and still have a lot of improving to do.
It’s the competition we look forward to most because we have a chance of progressing to the later rounds. It means a huge amount for Cricket Ireland financially and for us to grow the game. It’s an amazing feeling.”
Captain William Porterfield wasn’t quite as satisfied with result after missing out on the win. He added: “We’ve come off feeling like it’s a bit of a loss because coming down the last couple of overs we felt like we almost had it in the bag.
“I think we’ve done well to claw it back. It won’t take us long to get over the fact that we’ve drawn the game because we’ve qualified for the World Cup.
“We are pretty happy with it. Coming straight off the pitch after a tie it’s always a bit downbeat in the changing room but we’ll get a few beers down ourselves and enjoy it.
“We knew if we came to Holland and won the two games we had the competition. We won one and tied one. We’ve come here to do a job and we done it.”
