Batting for Ireland with brother 'a privilege'

Harry and Tim Tector were at the crease together in both of Ireland's recent T20 games against Bangladesh

Ireland opening batter Tim Tector says being at the crease with his older brother Harry is "an unbelievable privilege" as the siblings prepare to try and help Heinrich Malan's side make history in their deciding T20 international against Bangladesh in Chattogram on Tuesday.

A win for Ireland would see them become the first Ireland men's team to win a series against a Full Member of the ICC in Asia and build some momentum as they build towards the 2026 T20 World Cup in February.

Harry Tector was part of the squad which lost both Test matches against the Bangladeshis in November, with his younger brother joining up with the group for the subsequent three T20I encounters.

Ireland won the first of those matches by 39 runs, with Harry, third in the batting order, ending unbeaten on 69 and Tim contributing 39.

Tim scored 38 and Harry 11 as Bangladesh won the second match between the teams by four wickets on Saturday.

"It's obviously very cool batting with Harry out there. We've done it for quite a while now in our club stuff, and in our domestic stuff at home, so it didn't feel that different batting with him," said Tim

"Obviously, a slightly bigger occasion out here, but I do recognise that playing together on the same international side is an unbelievable privilege."

Cricket is very much a family affair for the Tectors, with other members having also played the sport.

"It's a real family thing. Our eldest brother Jack was captain of the Under-19s at a World Cup – actually, I think it was out here in Bangladesh.

"Our dad played a little bit and then Harry did the same, I did the same. We also have a little sister, Alice, who's broken into the women's team.

"We've all played in the same club pretty much throughout our journey, and we all love it. Maybe it's rare that every family member loves playing the same sport, but it's great that we all get along with it, and we all love playing it."

Players 'have freedom to express themselves'

Heinrich Malan says his side have done a lot well in their first two matches of the T20 series

The first two meetings between the sides have been night games but Tuesday's match will be a day game.

"The pitch might be slightly drier without the dew, but we'll have to wait and see," observed the younger of the Tector brothers.

"I know I've got a couple of starts, and have obviously been disappointed about getting out, but I don't mind that I'm getting out taking the aggressive option – getting out while looking to keep that momentum going outside the powerplay instead of trying to bat for a score.

"Powerplay batting, for me, is about trying to take the game to the bowlers. I like to move laterally – not only to keep my body moving, but also it allows me to access different parts of the ground.

"It's not about pre-meditating every ball – it's more about knowing what I'm looking to do and being both confident and clear about what that is."

Ireland head coach Heinrich Malan acknowledged that the Tector brothers were "two big players" in the squad.

"Hopefully they can go out there and keep doing themselves and their family proud and help progress our team going forward," said Malan.

The Ireland coach reflected that his side had "shown some real progress over the last two games" but there were still some areas where there was room for improvement.

"When we started this series, we were clear that it is part of our T20 World Cup build-up. We obviously haven't had the amount of cricket that we would have wanted throughout the year, but that's in the past," he said.

"We're now just focusing on where we're at. The first two games have really shown the clarity of thought that we've put into it, the process that we're looking for.

"The T20 game has evolved massively over the last little period and I think we've identified that we want to free our players up to go out there and express themselves - and I think we've seen that in the last week."