Ireland announce squad for Bangladesh series

Ireland Cricket has announced the squads for their upcoming tour of Bangladesh, which will consist of three One-Day Internationals, three Twenty20 Internationals, and a solitary Test match.

Andrew Balbirnie will lead the side in all three formats and the team will leave Dublin for Bangladesh on March 11.

This will be the first time the teams will face off in a full tour, with the Test being Ireland’s fourth in history and first against Bangladesh.

The tour will start with the ODI series, which will be played at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on March 18, 20, and 23.

It will be followed by the T20I series, played at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium on March 27, 29, and 31.

The only Test will begin at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on April 4.

Two players of the touring Ireland side have played in the ongoing Bangladesh Premier League- Balbirnie for Khulna Tigers and Curtis Campher for Chattogram Challengers.

Ahead of the tour, Balbirnie said he had been passing on the experience of playing in Bangladesh to their coach.

“Certainly, I have been in contact with our head coach back home. Just gave him information on the different types of surfaces we are going to come and play on. How it’s like under lights,” Balbirnie told the media.

“This is my second time here and I’m already getting to learn and put into place what I learned last time here. Different wickets, different bowlers. Kind of getting acclimatised. I hadn’t played in Sylhet before. I had notes on Dhaka and Chattogram, and it was nice to get a new experience beforehand,” Campher told The Business Post in an interview.