Ireland defeat Bangladesh in the first T20 International

FIRST WIN: Ireland defeated Bangladesh in the first T20 International of this three match series by 39 runs in Chattogram on Thursday. Picture: Seb Daly/Sportsfile

Ireland defeated Bangladesh in the first T20 International of this three match series by 39 runs in Chattogram on Thursday.

Ireland lost the toss and were sent to bat first with Tim Tector named as Paul Stirling's opening partner.

The duo made a good start scoring at a rate of 10 an over for the first four overs with Stirling playing numerous cover drives and punched shots through the off-side with Tector looking to score freely.

Stirling fell for 21 with Harry joining his brother Tim at the crease for the first time in senior international cricket.

The pair scored 31 from four overs before Tim on 32 skied the ball to long on and was caught.

Harry continued to score taking quick singles when the ball was not there to hit but powered over the boundary rope when was in the slot. 

He got his seventh T20I half-century from 37 balls going on to score 69 off 45 balls.

Curtis Campher (24 off 17 balls) and George Dockrell (12 off seven balls) helped Harry towards the back end of the innings leaving IReland with a competitive 181-4 from their 20 overs.

Spinner Matthew Humphreys looking for a good start with the ball claimed the scalp of Tanzid Hasan for two in the first over and in the next over Mark Adair, who returned from injury, removed litton Das for his one with his second ball.

Bangladesh were in disarray when Adair hit again in his next over to leave the home side 8-3. Barry McCarthy was thrown the ball and immediately struck bowling Saif Hassan for six.

Bangladesh attempt to get back some control with Towhid Hridoy and Jaker Ali put in a 48 run for the fifth wicket. But the Irish bowlers wrestled back the momentum removing Ali at 66-5 in the 12th over. 

Speaking after the game captain Paul Stirling said "We turned up really well today.

"That's as close to full strength as we've had in a long time in the T20. We welcomed back some senior figures and it showed. We came out on top."