Captain William Porterfield insists the International Cricket Council’s trial of four-day Tests won’t devalue Ireland’s historic clash with England at Lord’s in London this week.

Ireland are relatively new to the longest format of the international game and this will be just their third Test. Like South Africa’s contest against Zimbabwe in Port Elizabeth two years ago, it has been scheduled across four days rather than the regular five.

‘If you look across world cricket now, a lot of focus, a lot of crowds and everything else – probably barring England, Australia and India to a fair extent where you get crowds when those three play against each other – it’s a good initiative,’ said Porterfield.

‘You’re probably missing out on less than two sessions throughout the five days. You are still making up time with 98 overs. I think that the pace at which some Test matches are played at these days anyway, it might be a good thing for the game as well.’

Porterfield relished the presence of batsman Paul Stirling and seamer Tim Murtagh, who boast invaluable experience at Lord’s on the back of stints with Middlesex in English county cricket.

‘Having both of those lads who have played a lot of cricket is good for the lads just to go and have a chat to and sit down and talk about it if there’s anything they feel they want to focus on with regard the ground, the slope or anything really,’ he added.

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