Ireland captain Andrew Balbirnie is hopeful Josh Little will play Test cricket in the future, but knows he could now be a player in demand after his Indian Premier League exploits.
Little will sit out this week's one-off Test with England, which gets under way at Lord's on Thursday, in order to rest ahead of next month's 50-over World Cup qualification tournament.
Seamer Little played 10 matches for eventual runners-up Gujurat Titans in his maiden IPL and subsequently missed Tests with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
"I'm sure, hopefully down the line, he'll play Test cricket for Ireland," Balbirbie said.
Asked if Little wants to play the longest format of the game, Ireland's captain replied: "I'm sure he does.
"I haven't asked him that specifically. I speak to them as often as I can. I know how busy he is and the pressures that the IPL brings.
"And he doesn't want to get back from a game in front of 100,000 people with me saying 'do you fancy 12 overs next week at Lord's'?
'We feel we are in a good place' - After losses to Offaly and Cavan, London manager Michael Maher is hoping his team can overcome Laois this weekend in the Tailteann Cup pic.twitter.com/hEZgIfqboU
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"You need to give him his space as well and make sure that he's in a good frame of mind.
"Josh is Josh, we as a team want to promote Irish cricket as best we can when we're on the pitch but he's also doing that himself with what he's achieving on the world stage.
"What he is doing at the moment is only good for Irish cricket and the development of players coming up through the ranks."
Little is not the only Irish player to have played in franchise leagues following a strong showing by Ireland at the T20 World Cup.
Balbirnie's aim is to develop a core group of players so any future absentees are not felt so sorely.
"Of course, we would have loved him here but I understand completely that he's got to focus on resting up and getting ready for our World Cup qualifier," he said.
"Josh played in an IPL final in his first IPL appearance, I'm not stupid, he's going to get picked up by other leagues and we are going to have this situation again, but he still wants to play for Ireland.
"I've spoken to him and he still loves playing for this team.
"But there are opportunities for him and there will be for others. We just have to make sure that whoever comes into our group is up to speed and ready to go."
Fionn Hand, Matthew Foster and Tom Mayes could make their Test debuts if selected for the four-day match.
England named their playing XI yesterday, with Worcestershire seamer Josh Tongue set to make his Test debut, while James Anderson, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes, and Mark Wood miss out.
England captain Ben Stokes can feel the excitement building ahead of the Ashes and is in no doubt over the long-term future of Test cricket.
Cricket Ireland’s high performance director Richard Holdsworth defended their decision to rest Little by insisting the Lord’s Test was not a "pinnacle event" to draw further concerns over the future of international red-ball cricket with more and more franchise leagues filling the cricket calendar.
Stokes, who admitted he can understand Holdsworth’s comments, said: "I’ve always been a huge advocate of the Test format.
"The whole landscape and the whole game of cricket is literally just changing in front of everyone’s eyes so quickly.
"I see T20 and Test cricket being able to keep being successful and progress side by side.
"Look at what T20 has done for the game in general, the amount of attraction it’s brought – new fans, new players its brought into playing cricket regardless of the format and also what T20 has been able to bring in terms of Test cricket.
"The transition between the two games is so different but at certain periods in Test matches you do see that T20 side come out, which is only because the players have been playing it.
"So, I don’t see a world where T20 and Tests aren’t being played in the future.
"I don’t know what this build-up period before the Ashes is like compared to 2005, no idea, but it’s very hard to ignore and not be able to see the excitement."
Ireland squad
Andrew Balbirnie (capt), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, George Dockrell, Matthew Foster, Fionn Hand, Graham Hume, Tom Mayes, Andrew McBrine, James McCollum, PJ Moor, Paul Stirling, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Craig Young.
England team
Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Matthew Potts, Josh Tongue, Jack Leach.
