New Ireland captain Andy Balbirnie confident ahead of West Indies series

Balbirnie, who's made 64 ODI and 37 T20I appearances, said he's looking forward to leading Ireland, but his main focus would be on team rather than personal performance.

"I'm feeling pretty good about the first game. It will be a different experience for me captaining the side, but one I'm really looking forward to," he said. "I’ve got family out here who are obviously very proud of me captaining the side, but when it comes down to it, it’s all about the team and the performance we put in on the field. That’s my focus, and I know that is the clear focus of the squad."

The 29-year-old said his side are looking to use the practice games on their Caribbean tour to fine-tune preparation ahead of the first ODI on 7 January.

"Our preparations have been great out here, we’ve been based at St Catherine's cricket ground and they've produced some good wickets for us to train on," he said.

"Since we’ve returned from the [T20 World Cup] Qualifiers we’ve only had the chance to work indoors back home, but the lads have worked hard over the break and worked even harder since they've got out here to the Caribbean. We have a couple of practice games before the first ODI, so we'll be able to fine-tune a few things before we go into the series."

Balbirnie made an impressive 124-ball 135 in a tri-nation series match against West Indies at home last May, helping Ireland to a competitive 327/5, which Jason Holder's men chased down courtesy Sunil Ambris' blistering 148. The Ireland captain said that defeat in Malahide was a lesson for the team.

"When you get runs but lose the game it's a bit disappointing – it almost feels like you didn't get the runs. But it was an important game for the lads. As a team, we learned that we can score big scores against the top teams.

"It gave us a lot of confidence with the bat, but the takeaway was finding that balance between bowling to restrict runs, and attacking to take wickets. If we can find that balance during this series we’ll be very competitive and in a better place as a whole."