O'Brien and Taylor on international duty

Leicestershire CCC wicket-keeper Niall O’Brien enjoyed some rare downtime at the end of 2015 but is now preparing for an extremely exciting 2016.

The popular Irishman is busy on both the domestic and international front this year and has been at Grace Road since the New Year as part of the club’s winter programme.

O’Brien’s focus turns to Ireland at the end of the week as his country face a key period of fixtures in the next three months.

Ireland take on Papua New Guinea in the ICC Intercontinental Cup on January 31 in Townsville, Australia, and are then playing a series of T20 games in Australia and the United Arab Emirates in preparation for the ICC T20 World Cup in India in March.

There is the mouthwatering potential for Ireland to play hosts India, Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand in the tournament but first they must come top of a qualifying group that includes Oman, Bangladesh and Netherlands.

O’Brien said: “It was the first time in a couple of years that I’ve had a proper break. I got married and then went on tour, so I’ve had a good six weeks off. The coaches have been good to me at Leicestershire and Ireland.

“As everyone knows I’m very enthusiastic about my cricket and it’s been exciting to get back in training at Grace Road and seeing the lads again. I’m then away with Ireland from Sunday (January 17) potentially until the start of April in Australia, Dubai and then for the T20 World Cup, selection permitting.

“Ireland have played in a few World Cups before and to play in India at any time is a great experience. We got through the initial qualification phase last summer but are actually playing in a tournament before the tournament, so we’ve qualified for the qualifying tournament, if that makes sense!

“We’ve got to beat Bangladesh, Holland and Oman in March and if we can do that, we’ll then get the chance to play India and Pakistan in front of huge crowds, which would be incredible. Australia and New Zealand are also in the group, so we’d have the chance to play against four excellent T20 sides.”

The Ireland squad for games v Papua New Guinea and tour of UAE is as follows: William Porterfield (captain), Andrew Balbirnie, George Dockrell, Ed Joyce ^, Tim Murtagh, Andrew McBrine, Kevin O’Brien, Niall O’Brien, Andrew Poynter +, Stuart Poynter, Boyd Rankin, Max Sorensen +, Paul Stirling, Stuart Thompson, Gary Wilson, Craig Young.

^ Intercontinental Cup only 

+ T20s only

* County all-rounder Rob Taylor is away with the Scotland team as they prepare for an Intercontinental Cup match against Hong Kong on January 21 as well as two one-day internationals and a brace of T20 internationals against the same opponents.

Scotland will go through the same ICC T20 World Cup qualification process as Ireland. They face Afghanistan, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong in the first round of fixtures with the possibility of facing England, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Scotland’s 15 man-squad for their tour of Hong Kong is as follows: Preston Mommsen (captain), Alasdair Evans, Bradley Wheal, Calum MacLeod, Con de Lange, George Munsey, Josh Davey, Kyle Coetzer, Mark Watt, Matt Machan, Matthew Cross, Michael Leask, Richie Berrington, Rob Taylor, Safyaan Sharif.