Balbirnie praises ‘game-changing’ England strategy as Ireland put together for Test return

A return to Lord’s for a four-day Test on June 1 is the spotlight of Ireland’s Test calendar this 12 months, and Balbirnie believes that their opponents have engineered “a shift” in the best way that red-ball cricket is performed during the last 9 months – one which his aspect must discover a method to counter.

“It’s pretty obvious to see what England are doing has a chance of changing the game,” Balbirnie advised Cricket Ireland’s in-house channels, earlier than Ireland’s departure to Bangladesh on Saturday.

“I think it’ll naturally filter down to county cricket over the next number of years and we’re going to see it first-hand at Lord’s this summer, and we’re going to have to find a way to create our own brand – whatever that is.

“As cricketers of our era, we have seen an enormous shift within the recreation in all three codecs. The fantastic thing about white-ball cricket is that it is at all times evolving. Test cricket most likely hasn’t had that just lately, however now, within the fast previous, we have seen a shift. It’s going to be actually thrilling to see how that continues.”

Ireland have not played a men’s international in Bangladesh since the T20 World Cup in 2014, but Balbirnie has some recent exposure to conditions after a recent stint at the Bangladesh Premier League with Khulna Titans.

“It was actually helpful for me,” he said. “I used to be there to see first-hand a few their gamers, among the grounds and situations we will come up in opposition to within the subsequent week or two, and simply chat with among the native guys about how they go about taking part in sure spinners or seamers.

“Over the next week, leading up to the first ODI [on March 18], we’re going to be chatting as a team. Any little things that I picked up on in Bangladesh – or Curtis [Campher, who played for Chattogram Challengers at the BPL] – will only be beneficial to the group.”