William Porterfield after retiring: I still feel I could have gone back on Monday

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William Porterfield decided to end his career to focus on coaching. “Gloucestershire actually said ‘go and play in the New Zealand games’ but I didn’t feel like I was doing myself justice,” said Porterfield.

“I wanted to buy into one or the other and the opportunity was there with Gloucestershire and, if I am being honest with myself, mentally had bought into that and switched off from playing for a few weeks. “I still feel I could have gone back on Monday and trained for three weeks and performed against New Zealand but you don’t get the opportunity that often to step into a role which Gloucestershire have offered.

I had to be quite pragmatic. “I’ll be 38 at the end of the season. Timing is everything in professional sport and in 12-18 months time, I could be the same position of stepping away and the opportunity is not there.

County Ground

William is ready for a consultancy role at the County Ground in Bristol and that is now his biggest focus at the moment. “I got the opportunity to go down there for the past three-four weeks which ruled out (playing at Bready in) the (T20) Festival.

So I spoke to Heinrich (Malan, Ireland head coach) and Richard (Holdsworth, performance director) and they were really supportive. “I hadn’t played T20 cricket for a while in Ireland colours and they said if it’s a path you are looking to go down in terms of coaching, go ahead.

It was as simple as that. It might have been different if I was being considered for the T20 World Cup but that was never going to be the case and (as a contracted player) it was just a matter of getting permission to go. “I have been offered a consultancy role until the end of the season and over the last few weeks, I have really bought into it and immersed in it”.