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Ireland have faced a significant blow as their skipper Paul Stirling has suffered ligament damage to his knee and will miss the remainder of the ongoing ICC Men's T20 World Cup.
Stirling will be replaced by 20-year-old batter Sam Topping in Ireland's T20 World Cup squad. Stirling hurt his right knee when completing a catch during Ireland's 67-run loss to Australia on Wednesday, and the experienced captain aggravated it once again when he went for a quick single when returning to the crease to bat in the same match, as per the ICC website. Ireland's Director of High Performance, Graeme West, said it was a bitter blow to lose Stirling's experience, though he has high hopes for Topping as a replacement. "Paul Stirling underwent an assessment and a scan after the Australian match, which has subsequently revealed ligament damage - as such, he has been ruled out of the remainder of the T20 World Cup. Paul will shortly return home for rest and rehabilitation, ahead of the home summer," West said. "To replace Paul, we have called up Sam Topping, who is able to provide immediate cover as he is a short flight away in Chennai. Sam has been with the Northern Knights training squad and has been playing and training in similar conditions to Sri Lanka. The skill set he offers provides cover across a number of areas within the squad, which is important as Ben Calitz is also carrying a knock to his hand after the last match." Ireland will next be in action against Oman in Colombo on Saturday. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe have also been forced into a squad alteration of their own, with Ben Curran coming into the 15-player group for injured veteran Brendon Taylor. Ireland squad: Mark Adair, Ross Adair, Ben Calitz, Curtis Campher, Gareth Delany, George Dockrell, Matthew Humphreys, Josh Little, Barry McCarthy, Harry Tector, Tim Tector, Lorcan Tucker, Sam Topping, Ben White, Craig Young. Zimbabwe squad: Sikandar Raza (c), Brian Bennett, Ryan Burl, Graeme Cremer, Ben Curran, Bradley Evans, Clive Madande, Tinotenda Maposa, Tadiwanashe Marumani, Wellington Masakadza, Tony Munyonga, Tashinga Musekiwa, Blessing Muzarabani, Dion Myers, Richard Ngarava. (ANI)
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