DUBLIN \u2013 Craig Young spoke earlier today from the team hotel \u2013 reflecting on his return from injury, his new found love of T20 cricket, his Ireland debut, and advice for his younger self. <\/p>\n
On his return after injury earlier this year:<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter missing the West Indies series due to injury \u2013 a series which was partly played in my home province \u2013 it has been a pretty frustrating summer, personally. I\u2019ve been looking forward to getting back out on the park with the lads and it was great to do that yesterday in front of a good home support. There\u2019s nothing better than getting out there and plying your trade against the best.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe recovery from injury was a long road that wasn\u2019t all that straight forward. I did a Grade 3C on my right hamstring. I worked with both the team at Your Physio in Eglinton and our own Mark Rausa \u2013 all were nothing short of brilliant. They really helped push me on and give me confidence in my leg again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Young is currently Ireland Men\u2019s second-highest wicket-taker in T20Is and admits he has grown to love the format:<\/p>\n
\u201cT20 cricket has possibly grown to be my favourite format. I love Test cricket \u2013 when it comes along there is a huge spike in workload to try and get the overs under the belt, but nothing apart from playing can get you used to a day in the field and bowling in spells. I wouldn\u2019t say I particularly enjoyed T20 at the start of my career, but when Gary Wilson became captain he really supported me and gave me a good run \u2013 and, in particular, I felt he backed me and gave me confidence in that he wanted me and needed me in the team and I never really looked back after that.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith T20Is, for me it really comes down to trying to keep it simple and understanding \u2018the nature of the beast\u2019. Some days you can bowl well and get no wickets, and vice versa, but it\u2019s just about trying to be consistent and embracing it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
About the first match of the current series, he said:<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think conditions played a massive part \u2013 the wicket was on the slower side, but we are familiar with that. There wasn\u2019t much nip or swing for us, but hopefully there\u2019s still a bit in the track for tomorrow to help particularly our seamers. We all know how good England are, but we will back ourselves. Our batters were brilliant yesterday, and hopefully they can come again and we as a bowling back them up and we can get out on the right side of a result.\u201d<\/p>\n
About his own performance yesterday:<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll be honest, I didn\u2019t look at the scoreboard when I came on to bowl \u2013 I just wanted to get started and into my work. We knew they would come out swinging at everything \u2013 and they did, and did it well. We had our plans, and I felt we stuck to them as best we could, but it was a challenge, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n
About his role in the bowling unit:<\/p>\n
\u201cI found that after big Boydy retired [Boyd Rankin] that I seemed to take on his overs. I didn\u2019t mind that but it was strange not opening the bowling, but I don\u2019t mind I\u2019d do whatever phase of bowling if it means I get out there and take part. I like the challenge of trying to take wickets through the middle overs and they are key to slowing things down and ensuring they aren\u2019t loading up for the death.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut under Stirlo\u2019s captaincy you have to be ready to bowl any over at any time \u2013 and that in turn keeps all options open to him, and gives him the chance to keep changing things up and the batters guessing.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been 11 years almost to the day when Young made his Ireland debut at Malahide:<\/p>\n
\u201cA debut photo popped up on my Facebook at the start of the week, it\u2019s hard to believe that\u2019s so long ago. I can remember so much about that series. It\u2019s great to still be so involved that long on and shows no matter how much I doubted it then that I was good enough and could forge a long career from cricket.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn that day itself I remember bowling three overs from the top end and it wasn\u2019t the best of starts. Then Kev [O\u2019Brien] \u2013 who was captain at the time \u2013 brought me back on at the other end and before I knew it I had three wickets. It felt effortless running in and felt as if I had the ball on a string. Something you can chase as a bowler all the time but it very seldom actually happens, I was just lucky it was my debut when it did.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m probably doing myself a disservice there as I believe if you work hard and make the sacrifices good things come back to you, and I can tell you now I worked hard for that opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cLooking back now, the only advice I would give to my younger self would be to never doubt yourself and keep working hard. Cricket\u2019s a funny game \u2013 so stay level-headed, one day you\u2019ll be top of the world and it could be the very next game and she will pull you straight back down with a bang. But enjoy it, enjoy the lads, enjoy the tours. Gary [Wilson] told me at the very start of it all, when I was plagued with injuries and considered not taking a contract, that you will not find a better job in life than a professional cricketer and as most of the time. He was right.\u201d<\/p>\n
FIXTURES<\/p>\n
The upcoming matches are:<\/p>\n