Ireland's spin coach heaps praise on debutant Gavin Hoey

Ireland spin coach Chris Brown believes debutant leg spinner Gavin Hoey will be a good prospect for his team in the longer format of the game. The 24-year old had already shown promise with the cherry picking up two wickets apiece in both the innings against Bangladesh in the second Test match of the ongoing two-match series at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.

Hoey left a mark in the game by picking up the well set Mominul Haque (87) in the second innings as he outsmarted the veteran batter with his change of pace. "I think he's going to be a really good performer for us, particularly in this format," Brown said. "The lad's only 24 and he's played only a handful of first-class games and he showed some real promise in this series against extremely good players of spin and so I think he's going to have a really good future.

"I remember, you know, Shane Warne on his debut against the West Indies, I think he was one for 145 off 50 odd overs, and obviously he turned out to be the best leg spinner in the world now. Gavin Hoey has got all the attributes that he's shown out here that he's going to be a really good performer and he's going to take some great learning from this."

Brown added that young left-arm spinner Matthew Humphrey, who picked up a five-wicket haul in the series opener at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium, alongside Hoey and experienced Andy McBrine will form a formidable spin attack for Ireland going forward. "Learning that the two young lads in particular will take from this will hold them in really good stead in the future when we come to these conditions further down the line. So it'd be a really good learning experience for the two younger players," said Brown.

"And as I said, our senior statesman, Andy McBrine, I thought was excellent in the first innings. Second innings he bowled well as well. He didn't have much luck, had a couple of catches dropped off him, but certainly the two young players will take a lot from this in terms of moving forward to the future," he said adding that he just asked the spinners to follow the basics.

"Well, then first and foremost, it's to try and spin the ball as hard as you can whilst maintaining as much accuracy as you can. And it would be for the way the Bangladesh batters use the crease and manipulate the ball. They won't have come across players of that stature before, so like I say, that will hold them really good the next time we come to the subcontinent. They've got 50, 60, 70 overs under their belt to combat them next time around. But yeah, it'll be a good experience for them."

Brown also pointed out that he was quite surprised to see the wicket prepared at the SBNS given it's only on a rare occasion the game goes to the fifth day at this venue. "The surface here, certainly first three days, has held well with the odd one really gripping and spinning. And then when we obviously tomorrow morning when we come back, we'll try and take it session by session or hour by hour first, and obviously try and bat the whole day," he added.

The hosts are on the on the brink of a clean sweep as the visitors still need 333 runs on the final day with four wickets in hand after being reduced to 176-6 by stumps chasing 509 to win. Bangladesh already won the opening Test by an innings and 47 runs in Sylhet.