Black Caps all-rounder Daryl Mitchell has previously faced Ireland in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in a T20 series and is expecting a challenge in away conditions.
“They’ll have something up their sleeves the Irish, they always do and in these conditions they’ll be challenging. So we’ve got to make sure we’re on our game and really clear with how we want to operate,“ he said.
The Black Caps haven’t played a test in 2026, with their last outing in mid-December against the West Indies at Bay Oval, as they prepare for a three-match series against England starting at Lord’s on June 4.
Central Districts middle order batter Dean Foxcroft looks set for a test debut while Ben Sears could appear in his second test, after taking five wickets on debut against Australia in 2024.
Ireland have four uncapped players in Jake Egan, Tom Mayes, Liam McCarthy and Reuben Wilson all set for debuts.
Mitchell said it was “exciting” to get back into test cricket after a heavy load of Twenty20 with a World Cup followed by franchise tournaments in India and Pakistan.
“It’s been a busy few months, but it’s always nice I guess firstly rejoining back up with the test squad and getting together as a group and then getting stuck into some test cricket. It’s pretty special,“ Mitchell said.
Despite missing Sir Richard Hadlee medallist Jacob Duffy from the Ireland and England series, as he prepares for the birth of his first child, the Black Caps squad features eight pace bowlers.
Bowlers Matt Henry, Kyle Jamieson and Zac Foulkes recently arrived from India and may be short on preparation while Glenn Phillips remained in India for the Gujarat Titans’ IPL playoff run – which ended this morning.
It has meant no shortage of nets options for the Black Caps batters.
“It’s cool to see the bowling depth that we have built as a test group and with the Duke I guess in this part of the world, the ball can obviously help fast bowlers … but I’ve only played white ball cricket here in the past so I guess it’ll be understanding what the nets and stuff look like over the next couple of days and coming up with a plan for out in the middle,“ Mitchell added.
“As a group everyone’s on I guess different sort of plans with how they go about it, but generally two days out is big net session, the big nasty fasties are charging in trying to get us out and hit us in the ribs and us batters are trying to survive.“
Possible Black Caps team:
Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Kane Williamson, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell, Dean Foxcroft, Nathan Smith, Blair Tickner, Ben Sears, Will O’Rourke.