(REUTERS) – Ireland’s World Cup batting sensation Kevin O’Brien has been tipped to receive some lucrative offers but a switch to the England team looks unlikely, his closest friends in cricket say. O’Brien, who turned 27 yesterday, obliterated England’s bowlers to score 113 off just 63 balls, recording the fastest century in World Cup history on the way to help take the Irish to 329-7 and a tournament record run chase on Wednesday.
The relative anonymity he was once accustomed to has gone.
“I am sure his options will be endless, with county cricket and the Indian Premier League (next year) and other one-day events around the world,” Wayne Noon, who coached O’Brien in his one season of English cricket at Nottinghamshire in 2009, told Reuters.
“He will be able to name his price.”
His century was registered in just 50 balls — 16 fewer than the previous record held by Australia’s Matthew Hayden. He bludgeoned Ireland to victory with six sixes after they looked beaten at 111 for five at one stage.
That kind of hitting prowess is likely to attract the attention of English county teams.
But the possibility of his switching to the England team like compatriots Ed Joyce and Eoin Morgan seems unlikely because of the four-year qualification period needed.
“I couldn’t see him playing for England but that’s not through ability, just because he is a very proud Irishman,” Noon added.
“He may choose to go the way of Dirk Nannes, who only likes to play Twenty20 and has made a good career out of it.”

‘ATTRACTS ATTENTION’
Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said that although O’Brien may appeal to the England selectors now, he questioned if that would still be the case when he is 31.
“If he attracts attention from the counties I would not stand in his way as we can’t compete with them (financially), though I would hope to have a discussion about it,” Deutrom told Reuters.
“Our issue would be if we are going to lose him to England.”
He added: “We know he has the talent to do it but I am sure he will have many other attractive offers that I am sure will come his way, like the IPL for one. It’s great for Kevin and for Irish cricket.”
Adrian Birrell, Ireland coach for five years until the 2007 World Cup, worked with the stocky, ginger-haired O’Brien on a daily basis from Under-19 level and believes he does at least have the talent to follow Morgan into the England team.
“He has played innings in the past which showed he had firepower but never of this magnitude,” Birrell, now coach of England’s Under-17s, told Reuters in a telephone interview from South Africa.
“He always had the ability to hit a ball — I’m sure Kevin will be of interest to English cricket.
“Eoin Morgan has come across (to England) and Kevin O’Brien is good enough to follow that same path. Kevin has shown what he can do and I would be surprised if some team doesn’t pick him up for 20-over cricket at the very least.
“For him to score a hundred in 50 balls and 16 balls quicker than the next best ever is just phenomenal. That innings wasn’t a one-off — he has genuine ability to hit balls over a boundary.”