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Former Ireland skipper William Porterfield has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. The 37-year-old, who made his international debut for Ireland in 2006, finishes his playing career as the side's second-highest run-scorer in ODIs behind Paul Stirling, and also the second-most capped player in the format, behind Kevin O'Brien.
Porterfield captained Ireland in 172 of the 212 internationals in which he featured — nobody has led Ireland more times across all formats. Notably, he captained Ireland in the three Tests that they have played so far, and also the 2011 and 2015 ODI World Cups. The highlights with the bat include his 85 in the 2007 World Cup victory against Bangladesh, 112 against England in 2013, and a brilliant 107 against Pakistan in the 2015 World Cup.
Porterfield finished his career with 4343 runs at 30.58 and 1079 at 20.35 in ODI and T20I cricket respectively.
"It's been an honour to represent my country for 16 years - it's something I had always wanted to do since I was a child," Porterfield was quoted as saying by Cricket Ireland. "I have to say, though, it's a little surreal at the moment having made the decision to step away and retire, but I've been fortunate to play since 2006 and it's been an incredible journey.
"During my career, we've gone from an amateur team right through to now being a Test nation. From those before me, and along my journey, we have hopefully built an infrastructure that will allow the game in Ireland to continue to flourish. All I ever wanted to do was leave the shirt in a better place and leave the team in a better place, and hopefully I've played a part in doing that."
Porterfield will now turn his focus to coaching, having got a gig with Gloucestershire, a club where he had started his county career before shifting to Warwickshire.
Andy Balbirnie, the current Ireland captain, hailed Porterfield's storied Ireland career. "It's a huge loss when an absolute pillar of the game calls time on his career," Balbirnie said. "William has been an amazing person to have in the dressing room, as a player and as a person. A lot of the foundations that were laid for this current Irish team were done by him and teams that came before us.
Porterfield's retirement closely follows that of seamer Peter Chase who had brought the curtains down on his international career last week aged 28. Chase had represented Ireland in 25 ODIs and 12 T20Is, picking up 34 and 15 wickets respectively.
