Josh Little: Ireland's record pacemaker in top form for the T20 World Cup

Little's journey includes being a junior international doubles, playing table tennis with MS Dhoni and most recently pulling off the best bowling tricks in The Hundred's history - five wickets at a cost of just 13 points - for the Manchester Originals in a match-performance player to take his team to the play-offs.

He started playing cricket when he was about 11, but didn't take it seriously until he was 13. At the age of 16, he would make his international debut for Ireland, at the time becoming the second-youngest player to appear in a men's T20 international.

Academic commitments later limited his involvement with his national team, but he nonetheless continued his rapid progression to become an integral part of Ireland's white ball teams.

Cricket was not Little's first love and he has a childhood friend to thank for his introduction to sport.

"I was a hockey player when I was younger," says Petit. "I kind of naturally had good hand-eye coordination.

"One day, one of my school friends said 'do you want to try cricket? I play at a club near you. Come down and try it”. That's what I did and fell in love with it from there."

This summer, the Dubliner produced his record bowling exploits in a must-win game against Oval Invincibles as he featured in a remarkable turnaround for the Originals that saw them go winless after three games to under two balls away from winning the tournament.

Perhaps Little's athletic endeavors should come as no surprise. His two younger sisters, Hannah and Louise, both played cricket for Ireland. Josh's...