Andrew Balbirnie

“We know they're going to come at us but as long as we can throw a punch back at that, that's all we can really ask.”

“It's an amazing challenge: they're changing the way Test cricket is being played, and we get a chance to play against them. It's pretty cool.”

“It's a world sport - and I've been to places where it's a small sport and they're fighting for their lives. They need all the support they can get.”

“They get a tiny, tiny cut. I'm not sitting around the table but I think there needs to be a bit more of a share for the countries below the top teams, because it's a world game.”

“They get a tiny, tiny cut. I'm not sitting around the table but I think there needs to be a bit more of a share for the countries below the top teams, because it's a world game. It's a world sport - and I've been to places where it's a small sport and they're fighting for their lives. They need all the support they can get."”

“They can live without the ICC money, potentially, whereas we rely on it so much; that's our main income.”

“The problem we have is that we don't get a whole lot of money through sponsorship, which naturally the big countries get.”

“We're getting a fair bit more than we usually get. When the money comes through, there will be change for the better, I hope,”

“We were picking teams for the Tests in Asia based on what we'd seen in the nets and how guys went in the one-dayers.”

“It doesn't have to be seven or eight games - just so you can pick a team and know what they're like with a red ball in their hand.”

“Even if it's three games a season: North against South.”

“If we get bowled out for 30 in both innings against England but qualify for both World Cups, that's a win; that's our most successful summer ever.”

“It's not a lot - but they are six Test caps that I didn't think I'd get at the start of my career”

“I'm a well-hardened Test cricketer now," when I bring up the fact he is the only man to have featured in each of their six Tests to date.”

“I hadn't really thought about it - it hasn't sunk in really. It's something which I'll look back at and think, 'Wow, that was a pretty special moment.”

“When he gave it back to me, he was like, 'It's kind of hard to believe you're going to be leading Ireland out at Lord's.'”