Their future opportunities will be hampered by the International Cricket Council’s decision to cut the tournament to 10 teams, but Porterfield said: “The ICC have made the decision and there’s nothing we can do about that. We’ve got to accept that, and the way we’re playing and as long as we keep progressing then we’d back ourselves to finish in the top 10.

“There’s no format set in terms of a qualifying tournament – I think there has to be one and if there is we’ll back ourselves to get through.”

Defeat to South Africa means Phil Simmons’ team cannot qualify for the quarter-finals, but Porterfield is encouraged by all aspects of his side’s performance.

The Gloucestershire batsman said: “The way we’ve fielded, we’ve had a lot of comments – it’s one of the things we’ve worked hard on and pride ourselves on, especially our ground fielding.

“The way we’ve bowled as well, there’s no team that’s really taken us apart, and with the bat we feel we’ve put ourselves in winning positions and just haven’t managed to pull that through.

“We’ve had some really good partnerships, some 100-plus and 90-plus partnerships which are key in one-day cricket, but we need another 60-70 partnership and a couple of 30-40 partnerships, that’s what gets you up to winning totals in this format, 280s and up and around 300.

“That’s what we’ve got to do and we’re not far off that.”

One game remains, with just pride to play for against fellow associate nation Holland.

But Porterfield insisted: “I wouldn’t say there’s nothing to look forward to.

“We’re playing a game in the World Cup against Holland, one of the other associates, and it’s very important for personal pride and Irish cricket to give a good performance and get a good result.”