We need to have a first-class structure back home before we demand 10 or 15 Tests a year: Balbirnie

Ireland are set to take on Bangladesh in a one-off Test match starting Tuesday at Dhaka's Sher-E-Bangla national cricket stadium in Mirpur and the Irish captain Andrew Balbirnie is looking forward to the occasion.

Although, it has to be said Ireland only played three Tests since getting Test status and it will be Balbirnie's debut as Test captain.

The team will see plenty of changes from the last time they played a Test match three years ago against England in 2019.

"A lot has happened. We have been through a pandemic. There's been so much changes. Players have gone. Players have come in. It was a memorable occasion in 2019 for a lot of Irish cricket people. This is memorable as well. This is a big cricketing nation, playing against a top team. A lot of good teams have come here and got unstuck. The message is to go out and play, not hold too many fears. There's not a lot to lose in a one-off Test. So we want to enjoy it," he told the media in the pre-match press conference on Monday.

"It is not many times in recent history that there's going to be a lot of Test debuts. It only happens to the new nations. It would have happened to Bangladesh in the early 2000s. We are going to have a bit of a get-together tonight to do some presentations. I think if we do it in the morning, it will take too long," he added.

Balbirnie knows that the conditions will be challenging in Bangladesh and they have to adjust accordingly. 

"It is certainly very hot out there. It is a new ground for us as a team. It is kind of strange because in T20Is or ODIs you are aiming towards something, whether qualifiers or the World cup. These Test matches are sort of on their own, isolated. They bring their own challenges, but also the opportunity to play good cricket."

"It is an exciting group. Certainly get the whites back on, dust off the white pads. We know how good Bangladesh are in Test cricket, particularly here. It will be challenging but exciting.

The captain though believes that Ireland need to be focusing more on the longer format to do well in it as they have played and lost all three Tests so far.

"We are currently not playing any red-ball cricket. Since Covid happened, we focused all on white-ball cricket. That was fair enough. We didn't have any Tests in the pipeline. Certainly now with Test cricket becoming more available to us, it is something we have to look to change. You learn the fundamentals of the game in first-class cricket. We have players brought up on white-ball cricket. That's fine. But if we are going to four or five Tests a year, we will need a first-class structure so that our players can get used to playing a lot for a long period of time."

"I think it is hard to think of a brand of cricket when you don't play Test cricket. We have to play it as we see it. We don't want to make it complicated. It is ball versus bat. Once we play a few Tests, we can say this is where we are good, this is where we are not so good. Let's focus on some strengths," he added.

"We need to have a first-class structure back home before we demand 10 or 15 Tests a year. We need our guys to play regular red-ball cricket. When I was starting out, we were lucky to play a lot of county cricket. That's where we learned our trade but that's not available now. No red-ball cricket at home makes it difficult," he concluded.