Graham Hume Joins Ireland Team For T20 World Cup, Replaces Injured Craig Young

Craig Young has been a key bowler for Ireland since his white-ball debut in 2014, will miss out on the mega event with a recurring injury.

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Fast bowler Graham Hume will fly out to Australia to replace the injured Craig Young in Ireland's squad for the upcoming Men's T20 World Cup, Cricket Ireland confirmed on Saturday.

The 32-year-old Young, who has been a key bowler for Ireland since his white-ball debut in 2014, will miss out on the mega event with a recurring injury. He will be returning to Ireland for further assessment.

"Unfortunately, whilst out in Sydney for our T20 World Cup prep camp, Craig experienced a recurrence of a chronic issue which we have been managing for quite some time," Mark Rausa, Head of Physiotherapy and Medical Services at Cricket Ireland said in a release.

"Whilst we thought we were on top of the issue, it sadly flared up once we arrived in Sydney and began training. Craig will now return home for an assessment with our medical specialists to plan out his rehab," he added.

Young's replacement Hume made his international debut in July 2022 and has played only one T20I match so far. He will be flying immediately to Australia to benefit from Ireland's two warm-up matches.

Ireland are in Group B in the T20 World Cup and begin their campaign on October 17 against Zimbabwe in Hobart. Prior to their main matches in the first round, they will play two warm-up games -- against Namibia on the 11th and against Sri Lanka on the 13th in Melbourne. The team departs for Melbourne on October 9.

Ireland participated in the 2021 edition of the tournament but were unable to qualify for the Super 12 stage after finishing third in their group. The top two teams from the two first-round groups will make it to the next stage.

Ireland's T20 World Cup squad: Andrew Balbirnie (c), Paul Stirling (VC), Mark Adair, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Stephen Doheny, Fionn Hand, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Conor Olphert, Simi Singh, Harry Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Graham Hume