NIALL O'Brien is Ireland's most experienced tourist and he has a simple goal at this World Cup. He wants to be the leading run-scorer for a third successive tournament.

This is his seventh trip to Australia and as one of the few batsmen to have enjoyed a good warm-up, he can't wait to face the UAE at The Gabba on Wednesday as Ireland look to follow up their opening victory against West Indies.

“I've done well against UAE in the Intercontinental Cup, not so well in shorter form, so will be looking to put that right. But I've been in good form all winter and enjoy batting in these conditions. I've been leading run scorer in the last two World Cups so want to make it three from three. I'm happy where I'm at and looking forward to carrying it on,” said O'Brien, who became the first Ireland player to score 500 World Cup runs in the four wickets win in Nelson.

“I'd four years of Grade cricket, two with Mossman and two with North Sydney, a few month's training in Perth with a fellow called Noddy Holder, Justin Langer and Michael Hussey's batting coach , and I was here (Brisbane) in October with Ireland. It's a great part of the world and somewhere I see myself living when I retire.”

Not that that is imminent. At the age of 33 he has just signed a one-year contract extension with Leicestershire, keeping him at Grace Road until the end of the 2016 season, although O'Brien, despite being three years younger than Joyce, has already publicly said this will be his last World Cup. “Time might be against me, old bones and all that,” he fears.

Interestingly, he says that Leicestershire are still on the look-out for another bowler and hasn't ruled out one of his World Cup team-mates joining them.

“We've a new coach in (Australian) Andrew McDonald, whom I'll be meeting up with in Adelaide and we're still targeting a few new players, so maybe if a few of the Irish bowlers stand up over the next few weeks they might have a chance to come over,” added O'Brien.

Ireland have a local in the camp this week, batting coach Matthew Mott, a Queenslander by birth but who made his name as Victoria's regular No 3. His input has been hailed by O'Brien.

“I worked with him in October and it's good to talk to him about conditions, the ground and where we should be looking to hit the ball. Traditionally we've been a side to sweep a lot, especially when it comes to slow bowling, but Motty has pointed to the success of the Big Bash in Australia where batsmen hit through the line of the ball and hit straight, so Motty has been great. He keeps things simple, cricketers can over-complicate techniques but he throws a lot of balls and is a good sounding board.”

Mott has also encouraged the batsmen to play with freedom and that is an ideal which O'Brien is happy to buy into .

“We were a bit nervous in warm-up games against Bangladesh and Scotland but if we are going to continue to win matches and go a long way here we are going to have to play with 100 per cent freedom and back our ability. That's what we did against West Indies and I'm just delighted with the way I batted. It was nice to be there at the finish (79 not out).

Following that dominant success, no-one is expecting Ireland to slip up against UAE, the one team they are seeded to beat in this competition, least of all O'Brien.

“I watched them (against Zimbabwe) and they played well, they are improving a lot. But we know them pretty well, we've played them a lot in recent times (this will be O'Brien's 11 th game against them) we'll be well prepared to put in another good performance, and it's great to play at the Gabba, a great stadium,” he said.
After that, the squad move on to what is sure to their toughest match in Group B, against South Africa , but even that challenge against the world's No 2 side doesn't scare O'Brien.

“We genuinely believe on our day we can beat anybody, even South Africa. All it takes is for someone to have a stand-out day. That the beauty of this squad, we have the belief and we have the ability to do it.”

What O'Brien cannot control is the wicket-keeping position. Since he opted to play in the Bangladesh Premier League in February 2012, when Ireland were on a tour of Kenya, he has lost the gloves to Gary Wilson. It remains a sore point but he refuses to give up.

“I'm really missing being behind the stumps. I want to keep wicket, am constantly practising and ready when that opportunity comes along and hopefully there will be a chance to keep again ,"

For now though he has to let his bat do the talking and stay ahead of his team-mates.