JOSH LITTLE will miss the three-match T20 international series against Pakistan that starts at Clontarf on Friday and Ireland will also be without their star paceman for the tri-series featuring Scotland and the Netherlands that follows in The Hague.

The good news for Ireland coach Heinrich Malan is that left-armer Little will be back on board and fully committed for next month’s T20 World Cup after finishing his lucrative stint with Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League.

The 24-year-old Dubliner was not best pleased when Cricket Ireland interrupted his first season in the IPL by recalling him to play three one-day internationals against Bangladesh last year and the issue seemed to effect his form.

Good sense has prevailed this time, with Ireland naming the same 14 players to face Pakistan and travel to the Netherlands, with Little then joining the group for the World Cup warm-ups and group matches in Florida and New York.

“We have allowed Josh to continue in the IPL until his side end their campaign,” Malan confirmed.

Meanwhile, the fall out from the failure of the Ireland women’s to beat Scotland on Sunday and qualify for their T20 World Cup later in the autumn will mean fewer games for coach Ed Joyce’s team this season.

A tour by Sri Lanka in August will now feature fewer games and a proposed series against the Netherlands in the north-west has been scrapped altogether by Cricket Ireland.

While the cutbacks may make financial sense to the cash-strapped governing body, informing the players immediately after their defeat by Scotland was insensitive, to say the least.

IRELAND T20 SQUAD: Paul Stirling (c), Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Andrew Balbirnie, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Graham Hume, Barry McCarthy, Neil Rock, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker (wk), Ben White, Craig Young.

* Josh Little will join the 14 for the T20 World Cup