Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie acknowledged that his batters struggled to convert starts into big hundreds against Bangladesh’s disciplined attack in the opening Test, which the hosts won by an innings and 47 runs at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium on Friday.

Speaking at the post-match press conference, Balbirnie said Ireland failed to match Bangladesh’s batting standards despite posting 286 and 254 in their two innings. In contrast, Bangladesh amassed 587-8 declared, with five of their batters passing fifty.

“When you win the toss out here and bat first, you want at least one of your players to go on and score big hundreds. I think there's enough experience in that dressing room and international cricket to understand that,” Balbirnie said. “They (Bangladesh) showed us how to do it in the first innings of their innings. The centuries they had, and even the guys who didn't get centuries scored good 50s, 80s, these sort of things. So, it's certainly the thing as batters we've probably found most challenging is making that big hundred.”

Ireland managed just three half-centuries across the match — Paul Stirling (60) and Cade Carmichael (59) in the first innings, and Andy McBrine’s 52 in the second.

Balbirnie admitted that Ireland’s limited red-ball exposure continues to hamper their ability to bat for long periods. “We don't play a whole lot of red ball cricket, so our batters don't have all that experience in the bank to know how to bat for long periods, but they are clearly skilful players. I have no doubt the more opportunities we get at this level that we will see those big scores coming,” he said.

“Obviously, in Mirpur, it's probably going to turn earlier than it did here, maybe a bit more extravagantly, but we've got to prepare ourselves for that and make sure that we're best equipped to counter that and still look to be positive, because I think that's our best form of attack — not just sitting there and trying to defend, but trying to keep the scoreboard ticking,” he concluded.