Bilal Mustapha Shafayat (born 10 July 1984) is an English former

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

er. He played as a middle-order

batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...

, bowler and

wicket-keeper The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...

. Shafayat was a former captain of the England under-19 side. He was educated at the

Nottingham Bluecoat School Bluecoat Aspley Academy is a Church of England secondary school and sixth form located in the Aspley area of Nottingham, England, dating back to 1706. In 2007, the school had 1550 students aged six to eighteen, including 250 Sixth form stu ...

, but left after he found a place in cricket. He started his career at

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

but moved to

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...

in 2005. One early highlight of his career was a catch made for

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 ...

as a substitute fielder in a

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

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 coun ...

in 2004. He returned to Nottinghamshire for the 2007 season. He was the twelfth man in the 2009 Cardiff Test against Australia. He was the focus of a controversy when he came out twice during the final overs of the match as the last pair of England batsmen were trying to save the match. The Australian captain accused the England team of time-wasting. He was released by Nottinghamshire after the 2010 season. He played domestic First Class cricket in Pakistan in 2010/2011. He played second eleven cricket for Hampshire at the start of 2011 and averaged 239.5 in his two matches before returning to Northamptonshire on a match-by-match basis during the 2011 season, playing for the Second XI and the first team in Twenty20 and List A matches during June and July 2011. He ended the season playing for Wellington in the Birmingham league. In April 2012 he joined

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

. In May 2012 he was registered by Hampshire and went on to sign for them for 2013 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shafayat, Bilal English cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Northamptonshire cricketers 1984 births Living people English people of Pakistani descent Cricketers from Nottingham National Bank of Pakistan cricketers Pakistan Customs cricketers Nottinghamshire Cricket Board cricketers Habib Bank Limited cricketers Shropshire cricketers Hampshire cricketers Matabeleland Tuskers cricketers British Asian cricketers People educated at Nottingham Bluecoat Academy British sportspeople of Pakistani descent Lincolnshire cricketers