Muzamil Sherzad (; born 5 October 2002) is an Afghan-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 who plays for Leinster Lightning. Originally from Afghanistan, Sherzad played for the Ireland under-19 cricket team at the

2022 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup The 2022 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup was an international limited-overs cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies in January and February 2022 with sixteen teams taking part. It was the fourteenth edition of the Under-19 Cricket Worl ...

in the West Indies.

Early life

Originally from Jalalabad in Afghanistan, Sherzad played tape ball cricket in the streets. In 2017, his mother paid for him to travel around to get to Ireland so he could work with his uncle. The journey took the best part of nine months, with him crossing through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Italy and France with other immigrants. While in Croatia, he got into a truck to get to Milan, Italy. From

Cherbourg Cherbourg (; , , ), nrf, Chèrbourg, ) is a former commune and subprefecture located at the northern end of the Cotentin peninsula in the northwestern French department of Manche. It was merged into the commune of Cherbourg-Octeville on 28 Feb ...

in Northern France, he got into another truck to get onto a ferry. When he arrived in Dublin, he was forced to sleep in a park overnight, as he did not know where his uncle lived. After getting to a

refugee A refugee, conventionally speaking, is a displaced person who has crossed national borders and who cannot or is unwilling to return home due to well-founded fear of persecution.

centre, Sherzad was placed with a family via an agency, until they located his uncle in Tipperary.

Cricket career

In 2019, Sherzad saw an advert by Cricket Ireland looking for fast bowlers in a talent programme, which he signed up to through Facebook.

Albert van der Merwe Albert van der Merwe (born 1 June 1979) is a South African-born Irish cricketer. Van der Merwe is right-handed batsman who bowls right-arm off break and who played international cricket for Ireland. He was born in Bellville, Cape Province. He ...

, the talent pathway manager for Cricket Ireland, was impressed by Sherzad's bowling, and invited him back for further sessions. Van der Merwe was unaware of Sherzad's story, but got to know it once he had joined the academy. In December 2021, Sherzad was named in Ireland's 15-man squad for the

. On 29 January 2022, in the Plate semi-final against Zimbabwe, Sherzad took a

five-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. Takin ...

, with five wickets for twenty runs. Ireland won the match by eight wickets, to advance to the Plate Final against the United Arab Emirates. During the match, at the Queen's Park Oval in

Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...

, a 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck during Zimbabwe's innings. In May 2022, Sherzad was named in Leinster Lightning's squad for the opening match of the

2022 Inter-Provincial Cup The 2022 Inter-Provincial Cup is the tenth edition of the Inter-Provincial Cup, a List A cricket competition that is taking place in Ireland during 2022. It is the sixth edition of the competition to be played with List A status. On 4 March 2022 ...

, against the North West Warriors at

Sydney Parade Sydney Parade is a cricket ground in Dublin, Ireland. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1897, when Pembroke played Leicester Ivanhoe. In 1965, the ground hosted a first-class match between Ireland and Scotland, which resulted in ...

in Dublin. He 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 in the match, where he bowled three

overs Over may refer to: Places *Over, Cambridgeshire, England *Over, Cheshire, England *Over, South Gloucestershire, England *Over, Tewkesbury, near Gloucester, England **Over Bridge *Over, Seevetal, Germany Music Albums * ''Over'' (album), by Pete ...

, but did not take a wicket.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sherzad, Muzamil 2002 births Living people Irish cricketers Leinster Lightning cricketers Sportspeople from Jalalabad Afghan emigrants to Ireland Irish people of Afghan descent