Ireland vice-captain Orla Prendergast is looking forward to a challenging series against Bangladesh starting on Wednesday.

The 22-year-old Pembroke all-rounder has won 85 caps for Ireland since her debut in 2019. The one-time youth international footballer who chose instead to pursue a cricket career believes she made the right decision.

“I’m absolutely loving it - it’s a bit of a dream," said Prendergast. "Looking back at our recent home season, we had such a positive and encouraging end to that summer with those brilliant wins against England and Sri Lanka. Then I suppose personally to be able to head to the Big Bash was huge. It was such a good experience as an opportunity for myself. So, it's been kind of a whirlwind few months in a way.”

Prendergast joined up with the Irish squad on Friday evening after travelling from Australia where she played nine matches for the Adelaide Strikers in the Women’s Big Bash League.

“It was very cool, very fun. But challenging at times, definitely. I think the standard there is obviously a whole different ball game in a sense. But it was extremely enjoyable. I played a new role with bat and ball which I suppose is the good - and the challenging - thing about franchise cricket. But on the whole it was such a cool experience and a lot of learnings which hopefully I can take into this series.”

Looking ahead to the matches against Bangladesh, she believes it will be a case of trial by spin in the subcontinental heat.

“In their games in the past 12 to 24 months there’s been a lot of spin bowled. That's definitely been a key theme we've been discussing and preparing for. They obviously have got a couple of seamers as well that have been in pretty good form. So that's what we'll be looking out for. But I think when it comes to analysis, it's also been about focusing on our own games to be honest. 

"I think we know how well we've played towards the back end of our summer, but also in the past 12 months we've really come on as a team and grown together so as much as we focus on them and we obviously know about their key bowlers and key batters. I think a lot of it is focusing on our own strengths to take Bangladesh on.”