Josh Little: Irish paceman to miss Test against England after playing in ODI series
- Published
Josh Little returns from IPL duty to boost Ireland
Josh Little will join the Ireland squad for three ODIs against Bangladesh but is left out for the Test match with England at Lord's next month.
The left-armer, who performed strongly in his maiden IPL campaign with Gujarat Titans, will play against the Tigers in the next week's series in Chelmsford.
However, Little is being rested for the Test on 1-4 June as Ireland prepare for a busy summer schedule.
Craig Young and Conor Olphert return to a 15-man squad to face England.
England defeated Ireland by 143 runs at Lord's when the sides met for the first time in a Test in 2019.
Ireland have still to register a Test win and they were beaten by Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in April.
"We are very conscious of the need for Josh to rest, recover and prepare for a a busy and important summer for us in white ball cricket," said Andrew White, Ireland men's national selector.
"There is a familiar shape to the squad but given the progress and performances in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka - particularly with the bat - the players acquitted themselves well and can take some level of confidence into Lord's.
"We have only gone with one frontline spinner with conditions very different than where we have most recently toured, but Andy McBrine clearly demonstrated his all-round talent and also has the experience of playing at Lord's in 2019."
Ireland need to claim a whitewash against Bangladesh to automatically book their place at the World Cup in India later this year, and will need to head for the qualifier in Zimbabwe if they fail to do so.
Little's returns from a successful stint in the IPL and former England international Vikram Solanki, director of cricket at Gujarat, said: "We wish Josh the best as he heads back to represent Ireland in the ODIs.
"He has had a good run in his first Indian Premier League and we look forward to welcoming him back once he finishes the ODI series."
Ireland Test squad: Andrew Balbirnie (capt), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Fionn Hand, Graham Hume, Tom Mayes, Andrew McBrine, James McCollum, PJ Moor, Conor Olphert, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.