Joshua Brian Little (born 1 November 1999) is an Irish
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. He made his international debut for the
Ireland cricket team
The Ireland cricket team represents all of Ireland in international cricket. The Irish Cricket Union, operating under the brand Cricket Ireland is the sport's governing body in Ireland, and organises the international team.
Ireland participa ...
in September 2016.
Early career
Unlike many other Irish cricketers, he grew up as a pure homegrown local Irish cricketer being the product of the Irish cricket pathway alone.
He did not travel to England to learn the art of the game as he learnt them in Ireland and does not have experience of playing at the county level. He rose to limelight through the Irish cricketing system from under-age level. He picked up softball cricket for the first time as a ten-year-old at the St Andrews Primary School and he was guided by his development cricket coach in Dublin
Andrew Leonard
Andrew Leonard (born 1962) is an American journalist who writes feature articles for ''San Francisco'' and contributes to Medium. From 1995 to 2014 he wrote for ''Salon.com''. He has also written for ''Wired''.
Career
Leonard is credited with coi ...
who is now a renowned broadcaster.
It was Leonard who insisted him to join his friend Sanil Gupta at
Pembroke Cricket Club
Pembroke Cricket Club was founded in 1868 and is located at Sydney Parade, Park Avenue, just outside the old village of Sandymount in the prosperous Dublin suburb of Ballsbridge. The grounds were part of the lands of the Pembroke Estate from wh ...
to hone his skills and repertoire. He soon rose through the ranks during his stint at Pembroke Cricket Club through the Under-11 programme and also played alongside the likes of future Irish captain Andy Balbirnie for Pembroke Cricket Club in Under-15 age category level matches. Little also plied his trade in the sport of field hockey at
Monkstown Hockey Club
Monkstown Hockey Club (Irish: ''Cumann Haca Baile na Manach'') is a field hockey club based at Rathdown School in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Ireland. The club was founded in 1894 and was originally based in Monkstown, County Dublin. The club's ...
and even represented Ireland national field hockey team at age-group level especially for the Irish Under-16 side.
He took up taking cricket seriously roughly around the age of 13. It is also believed that Little's passion was initially not cricket but field hockey. He was actually persuaded to take up cricket by one of his childhood schoolmates. However, he probably would have opted to choose cricket over hockey due to his early international exposure at the tender age of 16 when he was included in Irish cricket team and he was used as a net bowler for
Ireland's bilateral home series against Sri Lanka in 2016.
International career
Little 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 ...
(T20I) debut
against Hong Kong on 5 September 2016.
Little was 16 years old at the time of his debut, making him the second-youngest to have played at that level,
after Hong Kong's
Waqas Khan
Waqas Khan (born 10 March 1999) is a Hong Kong cricketer. He made his Twenty20 International (T20I) debut for Hong Kong against Nepal in Sri Lanka on 24 November 2014. At the age of 15 years and 259 days, he became the youngest person to play in ...
. Prior to his T20I debut, Little was named in Ireland's squad for the
2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup
The 2016 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament held in Bangladesh from 22 January to 14 February 2016. It was the eleventh edition of the Under-19 Cricket World Cup, and the second to be held in Ban ...
.
Little was originally named in Ireland's T20I squad for their series
against Afghanistan in India in March 2017.
However, he had to withdraw because of education commitments.
In December 2017, he was named in Ireland's squad for the
2018 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.
In January 2019, Little was named in Ireland's T20I squads for the
Oman Quadrangular Series and the series
against Afghanistan in India. In April 2019, he was named in Ireland's
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 ...
(ODI) squads for the one-off match
against England and the
2019 Ireland Tri-Nation Series. He made his ODI debut for Ireland against
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
on 3 May 2019.
On 10 July 2020, Little was named in Ireland's 21-man squad that travelled to England to start training
behind closed doors for the ODI series
against the England cricket team.
In February 2021, Little was named in the
Ireland Wolves' squad for their
tour to Bangladesh. In September 2021, Little 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 ...
.
On 4 November 2022, in a match against
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
in the
2022 T20 Cricket World Cup, Little took a hat-trick by dismissing
Kane Williamson
Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand cricketer who is currently the Captain (cricket), captain of the New Zealand national cricket team, New Zealand national team in limited overs cricket. He is considered as New Zealand' ...
,
James Neesham
James Douglas Sheahan Neesham (born 17 September 1990), better known as Jimmy Neesham, is a New Zealand international cricketer who has played for New Zealand cricket team. He currently plays in various T20 leagues around the globe as an All-ro ...
and
Mitchell Santner
Mitchell Josef Santner (born 5 February 1992) is a New Zealand international cricketer who plays all forms of the game. Domestically, he plays for Northern Districts cricket team. He is a bowling all-rounder who bats left-handed, and bowls slow ...
. Little became the sixth player to claim a hat-trick in the history of
ICC Men's T20 World Cup
The ICC Men's T20 World Cup (earlier known as ICC World Twenty20) is the international championship of Twenty20. Organised by cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the tournament consists of 16 teams, comprising t ...
history and became the second bowler to do so during the 2022 edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup after
Karthik Meiyappan of the United Arab Emirates. He also became the second Irish bowler to take a
hat-trick in a T20I match after
Curtis Campher
Curtis Campher (born 20 April 1999) is a South African-born Irish cricketer who plays for the Ireland cricket team and Munster Reds. Campher made his international debut for Ireland in June 2020. In October 2021, Campher became the first bowler f ...
and both in fact achieved the milestones in T20 World Cup tournaments. He ended up the 2022 T20 World Cup with seven scalps in four matches during the Super 12 phase of the tournament.
He set an Irish record for having picked up the most wickets in T20Is in a single calendar year when he picked up a tally of 39 scalps in 26 T20I matches in 2022. He was also the second highest wicket-taker in all T20Is in 2022 with only behind Tanzania's Yalinde Nkanya who had picked up 45 wickets in 28 matches. He also holds the record for having grabbed most number of wickets in T20Is by a bowler from a full member nation in a single calendar year and is also second behind for having captured the most number of wickets in T20Is in a single calendar year.
Domestic and T20 career
He excelled at the 2016 U-19 World Cup having picked up a haul of 11 wickets which also helped him to be fast-tracked into the senior Irish side within a year. It was
Graham Ford
Graham Xavier Ford (born 16 November 1960) is a South African cricket coach and former cricketer.
Formerly the head coach of the Sri Lankan national cricket team, he was also the head coach of the Ireland cricket team. A right-handed batsman, h ...
who shaped the mentality of Little to make him seriously consider about making cricket as a professional career and in an exclusive interview with ''Sunday Times Ireland'', Little described that "five-minute chat with Ford changed his entire perception of things and since then he has been head down, just gym and cricket". Ford acknowledged that Little at the age of 18 was keen more on his social life than having second thoughts about professional career and Little also missed training sessions and including an occasion he missed out to play in an interprovincial game in order to attend the music festival
Electric Picnic
Electric Picnic is an annual arts-and-music festival which has been staged since 2004 at Stradbally Hall in Stradbally, County Laois, Ireland. It is organised by Pod Concerts and Festival Republic, who purchased the majority shareholding in ...
.
Little made his
List A
List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...
debut for
Leinster Lightning
Leinster Lightning is one of three provincial cricket teams in Ireland. Along with the North West Warriors and Northern Knights it makes up the Inter-Provincial Championship, Interprovincial One-Day Trophy and Interprovincial Twenty20 Cup.
T ...
in the
2018 Inter-Provincial Cup
The 2018 Inter-Provincial Cup was the sixth edition of the Inter-Provincial Cup, a List A cricket competition played in Ireland. It was held from 28 May to 9 September 2018. It is the second edition of the competition to be played with List A st ...
on 19 June 2018.
He made his first-class debut for Leinster Lightning in the
2018 Inter-Provincial Championship on 20 June 2018.
In April 2019, he was one of five cricketers to be awarded with an Emerging Player 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 ...
, ahead of the 2019 domestic season.
In July 2019, Little was selected to play for the Dublin Chiefs 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. In November 2021, he was selected to play for the
Dambulla Giants
Dambulla Aura, previously known as Dambulla Viiking and Dambulla Giants, are a franchise Twenty20 cricket team based in Dambulla, Sri Lanka, that competes in the Lanka Premier League (LPL).
In June 2021, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) terminated the ...
following the players' draft for the
2021 Lanka Premier League
The 2021 Lanka Premier League also known as Wolf777 News LPL T20, for sponsorship reasons, was the second edition of the Lanka Premier League (LPL) Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in Sri Lanka. It took place from 5 to 23 December 2021. The ...
.
He was roped in by the Chennai Super Kings franchise as its net bowler ahead of the
2022 Indian Premier League
The 2022 Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 15 or for sponsorship reasons, Tata IPL 2022, was the fifteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cricke ...
.
He received his maiden call-up to join the Manchester Originals during the
2022 season of The Hundred
The 2022 season of The Hundred will be the second season of The Hundred, a professional franchise 100-ball cricket tournament involving eight men's and women's teams located in major cities across England and Wales.
The competition will return ...
in an Instagram direct message from England's
Phil Salt and was subsequently a mid-tournament replacement for
Sean Abbott
Sean Anthony Abbott (born 29 February 1992) is an Australian professional cricketer originally from Windsor in New South Wales who has represented his country internationally. After playing in junior cricket for Baulkham Hills Cricket Club, he ...
during the context of 2022 Hundred season. He was eventually Manchester Original's second highest-wicket taker during the course of the 2022 Hundred season with a wicket tally of 13 in just five innings and was only behind
Paul Walter's 14 scalps. On 31 August 2022, Little achieved the best bowling figures in the history of
The Hundred of 5/13. He is the fourth person to obtain a
5 wicket haul
In cricket, a five-wicket haul (also known as a "five–for" or "fifer") occurs when a bowler takes five or more wickets in a single innings. This is regarded by critics as a notable achievement, equivalent to a century from a batsman.
Taki ...
in the history of the competition sending
Manchester Originals into the top three on the final day and into the
playoffs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
.
In December 2022,
Gujarat Titans
Gujarat Titans is a franchise cricket team based in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The Titans compete in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Founded in 2021, Gujarat Titans' home ground is Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera. The franchise is owned by C ...
brought Little in the
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...
auction ahead of 2023 season. This made him the first ever Irish player to get an IPL contract. He made his IPL debut for Gujarat Titans against
Chennai Super Kings
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) is an Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Founded in 2008, the team plays its home matches at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. The team is owned by India ...
on 31 March 2023, taking the figures of 1-41 from 4 overs and in the process, becoming the first Irish cricketer to play in the IPL and take a wicket.
He was picked by
Multan Sultans
Multan Sultans (Urdu: ) is a Pakistani professional Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing the city of Multan in southern Pakistan in the Pakistan Super League (PSL). The team was founded in 2017 as an additional sixth team added to the P ...
in the PSL auction ahead of the
Pakistan Super League
The Pakistan Super League (PSL) is a professional Twenty20 cricket league contested during February and March of every year by six teams representing six cities of Pakistan. The league was founded on 9 September 2015 with five teams by the Paki ...
. However, he was ruled out of the tournament due to injury.
Awards
He was named in the
ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year
The ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year is an honour awarded each year by the International Cricket Council. It recognizes the top men's cricket players from around the world in the Twenty20 International format of the game. The team does not actually ...
for the Year 2022 during the
2022 ICC Awards
The 2022 ICC Awards were the eighteenth edition of ICC Awards. The nominations took into account players' performance between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2022.
Winners and nominees
The shortlists of the nominations for individual award cate ...
for his splendid performances with the ball in T20I cricket in 2022 and became the first Irish player to be inducted into ICC Men's T20I Team of the Year. In March 2023, he was awarded the Men's International Player of the Year for 2022 during the 11th Clear Treasury Irish Cricket Awards.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little, Josh
1999 births
Living people
Irish cricketers
Ireland One Day International cricketers
Ireland Twenty20 International cricketers
Leinster Lightning cricketers
Dambulla Aura cricketers
Cricketers from Dublin (city)
Manchester Originals cricketers