Paul Stirling will miss the rest of Ireland’s T20 World Cup campaign with Sam Topping called in for cover.
The Ireland captain suffered knee ligament damage in Wednesday’s 67-run defeat by Australia to leave his side’s hopes of advancing to the Super 8s hanging by a thread.
Stirling sustained the injury in the seventh over of Australia’s innings when coming down heavy on his knee after making a diving catch to dismiss Josh Inglis.
The 35-year-old left the field shortly after but returned to open Ireland’s innings with the bat, but his knee buckled when setting off for a run in the first ball and was forced to retire hurt.
“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,” said Graeme West, director of high performance at Cricket Ireland.
“Paul will shortly return home for rest and rehabilitation, ahead of the home summer.
“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.”
Topping, a left-handed opener and accomplished wicketkeeper, arrives from an off-season training camp with the Northern Knights in Chennai and will also serve as further cover due to a hand injury picked up by Ben Calitz in the Australia match.
The 20-year-old Antrim man is uncapped at international level, but scored 217 runs at 31:00 in T20s with a strike rate of 140 during the recent domestic season in Ireland, with a highest score of 83 coming off 48 balls.
“Sam has been with the Northern Knights training squad and has been playing and training in similar conditions to Sri Lanka,” West added.
“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 return to action in Colombo on Saturday [05:30 GMT] when they face Oman in a must-win game to keep their hopes of progressing alive before taking on Zimbabwe in Pallekele on Tuesday [09:30].
