World Cup Qualifier: Irish paceman Craig Young relishing qualifier challenge
- Published
Craig Young celebrates taking the wicket of Zimbabwe's Brendan Taylor at Stormont last year
Ireland paceman Craig Young says missing out on this year's World Cup would be a "massive disappointment".
The Irish start the World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe against Oman on Monday with the top two from the 10-team tournament progressing to India later this year.
"It would be a massive disappointment not to qualify when you look at the squad we have," said Young.
"It'll be hard work but that's the way we like it - everyone needs to be fit and firing and- we'll get stuck in."
Young missed the Test defeat by England earlier this month because of injury and he returns along with fellow quick bowler Josh Little.
Ireland failed to qualify for the 2019 World Cup and they are the four highest ranked team going into the tournament.
They will also face Scotland on Wednesday before taking on Sri Lanka on 21 June and finishing their Group B games against United Arab Emirates two days later - the top three from each group progress to the Super Six stage.
"We've played two warm-up games on two different grounds and with very different conditions," added Young.
"The training has been full-on to try and combat that. The wickets are very slow - it's a very different type of cricket to what we are used to playing.
"It is brutal - that's what qualifying tournaments are like. There's not much rest between matches although that can be a good thing if you are doing well.
"There's going to be no freebie wins and it's a case of whoever adapts to the conditions the best and who does the basics best.
"We are prepared for a dogfight and we will give it our best."