Balbirnie to captain Ireland Wolves squad on Bangladesh tour

The three-week tour will see the Ireland Wolves captained by Andrew Balbirnie playing a four-day match against Bangladesh A followed by five one-day games against the same opposition, reports bbc.com. Andrew Balbirnie, George Dockrell, Peter Chase and Barry McCarthy are among Ireland regulars in the 16-man squad. Jack Tector, Shane Getkate and Nathan Smith are the only uncapped players who will travel to Bangladesh. John Bracewell will be head coach on the trip with Ed Joyce also part of the Irish backroom staff. Bracewell, who will be succeeded as Ireland's head coach by Graham Ford in December, says the tour of Bangladesh will offer the Irish players invaluable experience in the sub-continent before next year's World Cup qualifying tournament. "We want to give Graham Ford, William Porterfield and the team the best possible opportunity to qualify and therefore have selected on the basis that all players in the squad have a realistic chance of making the Irish side in the immediate future," said Bracewell. "While 13 of the 16 players have senior international experience, a number of those players don't always feature in our first XI which makes A-team cricket so important for developing experience in our broader playing pool, let alone in unfamiliar conditions." Balbirnie captained the Wolves earlier this year and says it will be a "huge honour" to skipper the side again in Bangladesh. "It's without doubt going to be a tough tour in Bangladesh but that's what we want - to put ourselves in tough situations and come out of it having learned a great deal and grow and develop as cricketers," said Balbirnie. "Playing against high quality opposition such as Bangladesh A in conditions which are alien to us will certainly do that."FIXTURES:Opposition       DateBangladesh A     11-14 October (four-day) Bangladesh A     17 October (one-day) Bangladesh A     19 October (one-day) Bangladesh A     21 October (one-day) Bangladesh A     24 October (one-day) Bangladesh A     26 October (one-day)Ireland Wolves squad: Andrew Balbirnie (capt), John Anderson, Peter Chase, George Dockrell, Shane Getkate, Andrew McBrine, Barry McCarthy, Jacob Mulder, Stuart Poynter, James Shannon, Simi Singh, Nathan Smith, Jack Tector, Sean Terry, Stuart Thompson, Lorcan Tucker