Craig Alexander Young (born 4 April 1990) is an Irish professional

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er. Young is a right-handed

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the ball with a bat to score runs and prevent the loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since September 2021, officially referred to as a batter (historically, the ...

who bowls right-arm

medium pace Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

. On 26 May 2013, Young made his first-class debut for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. He made his

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

debut against Scotland in September 2014, taking 5 wickets for 45 runs. He made his

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

debut against Scotland on 18 June 2015. In December 2018, Young was one of nineteen players to be awarded a central contract by

Cricket Ireland Cricket Ireland, officially the Irish Cricket Union, is the national governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national men's and women's cricket teams. It also org ...

for the 2019 season. In January 2020, he was one of nineteen players to be awarded a central contract from

, the first year in which all contracts were awarded on a full-time basis.

Early and domestic career

Young played for

Bready Cricket Club Bready Cricket Club is a cricket club located in the village of Magheramason, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, playing in North West Senior League, North West Senior League 1. The club are the current holders of the North West Senior Cup (cricke ...

in the

North West Senior League The North West Senior League is the provincial cricket league within the North West Cricket Union jurisdiction in Ireland, which covers counties Londonderry, Fermanagh, and part of Tyrone in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the Republic of ...

as a medium pace bowler. After playing for the

Ireland national under-19 cricket team The Ireland national under-19 cricket team represents All-Ireland in under-19 international cricket. Ireland has qualified for the Under-19 Cricket World Cup on eight occasions, most recently in 2018. This is the most of any European country o ...

at the

2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2010 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was the eighth edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup and took place in New Zealand. Since 1998, the tournament has been held every 2 years. This edition had 16 teams competing in 44 matches between 15 a ...

where he took nine wickets, Young was given a one-year contract by

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

for 2010. A series of injuries prevented him from making a significant impression, and much of his cricket for Sussex came for the county's second team. He made his first-class debut in an

ICC Intercontinental Cup The ICC Intercontinental Cup was a first-class cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) as part of its cricket development programme. It was designed to allow Associate Members of the ICC the chance to play first ...

for

against

in late 2013, taking four wickets in the first innings and two in the second during an innings victory for Ireland. Early the following year, a few months after being released by Sussex, Young was contracted as an "A" category player for Ireland, the highest level of contract, and he made his one-day debut for the side shortly thereafter, albeit not in a full international match. In July 2019, Young was selected to play for the Belfast Titans in the inaugural edition of the

Euro T20 Slam The Euro T20 Slam is a planned professional Twenty20 cricket league. The first edition of the tournament was initially scheduled to start in August 2019, with matches to be held in Ireland, Scotland and the Netherlands. It's launch has been post ...

cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled.

International career

Young made his

debut for Ireland in September 2014, and became the ninth player to take five wickets on ODI debut. That remains his best performance for Ireland in ODIs. In Ireland's 2015 ICC Intercontinental Cup victory over the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

, Young recorded his best match figures in a first-class match, collecting four wickets in the first innings and three in the second, during a large victory for his side. In May 2018, Young was added to Ireland's

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

squad for their match against Pakistan, but he was not selected to play. In June 2019, he was named in the Ireland Wolves squad for their home series against the

Scotland A cricket team The Scotland national cricket team represents the country of Scotland. They play their home matches at The Grange, Edinburgh, and also some other venues. Scotland became Associate Members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 1994

. In July 2019, he was named in Ireland's

squad for their one-off match against England at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

, but he did not play. In September 2019, Young was named in Ireland's squad for the

2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier The 2019 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier was a cricket tournament held during October and November 2019 in the United Arab Emirates to determine which teams would qualify for the 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament. The six teams finishing ...

tournament in the United Arab Emirates. On 10 July 2020, Young was named in Ireland's 21-man squad to travel to England to start training behind closed doors for the ODI series against the England cricket team. In September 2021, Young was named in Ireland's provisional squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventua ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Craig 1990 births Living people Irish cricketers Sportspeople from Derry (city) Ireland One Day International cricketers Ireland Twenty20 International cricketers Cricketers at the 2015 Cricket World Cup Cricketers who have taken five wickets on One Day International debut Cricketers from Northern Ireland North West Warriors cricketers