Coming hot from his World Cup performances, notably his match-winning 72 against Pakistan and 63 against England, O'Brien started the season with the gloves. But he never got going for the county and, after five championship games without a fifty, he was despatched to the 2nd XIs. His replacement, Rikki Wessels, has done well and there seems to be little option for O'Brien but to move on.

"I'm out of contract in October", he told Inside Edge this weekend, "And Warwickshire have made a formal approach."

The county have given 28 days notice of their intention to open talks with O'Brien and will not be permitted to open formal negotiations with the 25-yearold until the 'cooling-off ' period has expired. The Edgbaston club have the hotly-tipped Tim Ambrose on their books, so O'Brien could face another period similar to that at Kent when he had to wait for Geraint Jones's England callups to get a look in.

"Something favourable should work out for me", he said, "Northants haven't given me any feedback about whether they will have a new contract but its nice that a big county is interested. It's a really good place and I have a couple of friends there, so its very appealing."

Niall may be in Dublin this week, but was still bemused on Friday to be told he was selected for Ireland's game against Bermuda. "I don't think the ICU have asked Northants and there's a four-day game against Notts starting on Wednesday that I've a good chance of playing in, " he revealed.

Another wicketkeeper-bat making his way in England is Stuart Poynter, younger brother of Andrew, who has been a great addition to Clontarf this summer. Stuart has broken into the Middlesex 2nd XI, sharing the gloves with David Nash. The Poynters' mother is Wendy Vincent, sister of former Ireland great Deryck.

"I'm keeping a close watch on Stuart's progress with a view towards the Under 19 World Cup in the winter", says Irel and U-19 coach Briain O'Rourke. "He's an excellent prospect", O'Rourke told Inside Edge, "he's already in the England South Under 17 squad, so he will have to choose between us and England. His brother had the same problem two years ago and he opted for Ireland so I'd be hopeful he would too."

Alex Cusack (below) has rapidly settled into the Irish team and must be an almost automatic pick already. He made 29 on debut against Middlesex, and then took the man of the match award in the ODI against South Africa after taking 3-15 and an unbeaten 36.

But his 130 against Scotland at Stormont was a stunning innings, partnering Andre Botha as Ireland gained the crucial first innings lead points.

Cusack has settled quickly into the squad: "It's great fun", he told Inside Edge. "They're a great bunch of guys."

Its a long way from the beach back home in Brisbane where Alex and his Clonmelborn father would puck a ball with hurleys. Cusack jr took to willow more than ash, however, and worked his way up to First Grade at Northern Suburbs, a top Brisbane side that currently field four Australian internationals.

Alex had a friend, Simon Mammino, who played with Pembroke and encouraged him to come over for a summer. He arrived at Sydney Parade to find the club already had a pro but was redirected to Clontarf where he has remained happily. He is engaged to Celine Byrne, herself a player with Tarf.

His father's origins made his Irish selection uncomplicated and Alex (pictured) has seized his opportunity. Trent Johnston is a big fan, saying:

"He's going to be in these Irish colours for a long time and he deserves that."

Listeners toTest Match Special on BBC last weekend must have been bemused by Jonathan Agnew's regular updates of the score from Croke Park.

Agnew had signed up to a newspaper prediction competition for the weekend and his final bet involved the All Ireland quarter-final. He had opted for "Monaggan" over Kerry and was gutted that his fancy lost by a point, although he was perplexed by the score of 1-12 to 1-11.