Ireland romped to a five-wicket victory over Afghanistan on Saturday night in the final playoff game. Chasing 152,Ireland reached the target in 18.5 overs with opener Paul Stirling scoring yet another whirlwind innings,scoring 79 from 38 balls. With this win,Ireland are placed in the group B alongside Australia and West Indies. Afghanistan,who have also qualified alongside will be in group A alongside India and England. Ireland captain William Porterfield said his side's victory proved they merited a place at cricket's top table. It is the third successive time Ireland has qualified and the team has also played in the past two 50-over World Cups,securing wins over full member teams Pakistan,England and Bangladesh. If you look at where we have come from in 2005 and 2006 then in terms of ticking the ICC (International Cricket Council) boxes we have been doing that and,especially with the last two World Cups,everyone has taken notice of the steps Irish cricket has been taking, Porterfield told reporters. We are not saying it is going to be easy to make that step up but we feel we are ready to do that and hopefully the ICC can give us that opportunity sooner rather than later. Porterfield's request for the chance for his side to play against cricket's more established nations echoed those of his fellow captain Nawroz Mangal of Afghanistan. Afghanistan and Ireland will each receive a preparation grant of US$250,000 from the ICC ahead of Septembers event.
