Muzamil Sherzad

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. While in Croatia, he got into a truck to get to Milan, Italy. When he arrived in Dublin, he was forced to sleep in a park overnight, as he did not know where his uncle lived. ==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. Van der Merwe was unaware of Sherzad's story, but got to know it once he had joined the academy. On 29 January 2022, in the Plate semi-final against Zimbabwe, Sherzad took a five-wicket haul, 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, 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, against the North West Warriors at Sydney Parade in Dublin. He made his List A debut in the match, where he bowled three overs, but did not take a wicket. ==References==