Cricket Ireland on Saturday (October 8) confirmed that pacer Graham Hume will leave for Australia to replace the injured Craig Young in Ireland’s squad for the upcoming ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Craig Young, who has taken 55 wickets in 52 T20Is, has been ruled out of 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 Graham Hume made his international debut in July 2022 against New Zealand in a one-day international, then made his T20 International debut the next month against Afghanistan. He will fly out on the earliest flight possible in order to benefit from the warm-up period ahead of the tournament proper.

The Irish squad will fly to Melbourne on October 9 where they will play Namibia and Sri Lanka in two official warm-up matches. They will open their T20 World Cup 2022 campaign against Zimbabwe on October 17.

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