Ajmal Shahzad (born 27 July 1985) is an English

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

coach and retired cricketer. He was a member of the England team that won the

2010 ICC World Twenty20 The 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was the third edition of the Men's T20 World Cup, formerly known as the ICC World Twenty20, an international Twenty20 cricket tournament that was held in the West Indies between 30 April and 16 May 2010. It was wo ...

. As a right-arm

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...

, he played

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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for five counties

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

and

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

between 2004 and 2017. Shahzad made his international debut for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in a

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

in February 2010. He went on to play 3 Twenty20 internationals, 11

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s and one Test match ( against Bangladesh in 2010) for his country.

Family and education

Ajmal Shahzad grew up in

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, where he attended Bradford Grammar School and Woodhouse Grove School; he lived close to fellow cricketer Adil Rashid. Shahzad studied four months of pharmacy at Bradford University before transferring to

Leeds Metropolitan University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univer ...

to study sports science to enhance his cricket career.

Domestic career

In 2004, he became the first Yorkshire-born player of Asian extraction to play for

. In 2009, Shahzad took 40 wickets and scored 445 runs in the lower middle order. His performances gained him a call up to the England performance squad on a tour of South Africa. In the 2011 County Championship he managed 25 wickets at a

bowling average In cricket, a player's bowling average is the number of runs they have conceded per wicket taken. The lower the bowling average is, the better the bowler is performing. It is one of a number of statistics used to compare bowlers, commonly use ...

of 41.00. In September, Shahzad was reprimanded for scuffing the pitch during the penultimate Championship match against

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

and fined £750. Shahzad regretted the incident, explaining "It's not the way I want to play my game. I don't want to be seen as a cheat, or a pitch-damager. ... It's one mistake I've made in an eight- or nine-year career so far. It's out of the blue for me, and I definitely would never do anything like it again. It was just a random, stupid act." In April 2012 Yorkshire's new head coach,

Jason Gillespie Jason Neil Gillespie (born 19 April 1975) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer who played all three formats of the game. Jason Gillespie was appointed as the head coach for Pakistan's red-ball (Test) cricket team on April 28, 202 ...

, praised Shahzad's efforts, saying "Ajmal has got himself in as good a condition as he's ever been in his first-class career. He's worked incredibly hard, and I think he's a fantastic bowler, a very exciting bowler." However, on 1 May 2012, it was announced that Shahzad was to leave Yorkshire and a week later he joined Lancashire on loan for the rest of the season. On 10 October 2012, having been told he was free to leave Yorkshire, Shahzad signed a three-year contract to join

. On 7 November 2014, he was released a year early from his Nottinghamshire contract and signed a three-year contract with

. On 10 July 2017, Shahzad departed Sussex after his contract was terminated by mutual agreement.

International career

In January 2010, he was named in the Test and ODI squads for the England tour of Bangladesh. On his debut for England in a Twenty20 International against

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, he claimed two wickets, both in his first over. He then made his ODI début against Bangladesh, again taking a wicket in his first over. When Bangladesh toured England a few months later, he made his Test debut in the second Test, replacing the injured Tim Bresnan. After only scoring 5 runs in England's innings and an expensive first bowling spell, he took 3 wickets in 3 overs in his second spell as Bangladesh failed to reach the follow-on target. Pakistan toured England in July and Shahzad was included in England's 12-man squad for the first Test. A week before the match, he twisted his ankle whilst playing for Yorkshire. As he was still experiencing discomfort the day before the Test, England chose to play Tim Bresnan instead of Shahzad. Shahzad was included in the performance squad who were training in Australia for the 2011 Ashes and ready to provide cover in the event of injuries. He was not called upon in the Tests, but played two T20Is against Australia and the first five of the seven ODIs that followed. He took 6 wickets at an average of 40.50 before a hamstring injury in the fifth match ruled him out of the rest of the series. Shahzad was included in England's 15-man squad for the 2011 ICC World Cup held in Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka in March 2011. He managed three wickets from two appearances in the tournament, but suffered a recurrence of the hamstring injury against Australia forcing him out of the tournament prematurely. On his return to Yorkshire, he struggled for form so was left out of the England Test and ODI squads to face Sri Lanka in 2011. He was selected in the England Performance Programme held over the 2011-12 English off-season, but never played international cricket again.

Post playing career

Following his playing career, Shahzad initially became an assistant coach at

Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...

's youth team. He succeeded Steve Kirby as the club's Head Coach in February 2019. Two years later he joined

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

as an Assistant Coach with a focus on bowling.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Shahzad, Ajmal 1985 births Living people English cricketers England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers England Twenty20 International cricketers Yorkshire cricketers English people of Pakistani descent Sportspeople of Pakistani descent People educated at Woodhouse Grove School Cricketers from Huddersfield Cricketers at the 2011 Cricket World Cup People associated with the University of Bradford Lancashire cricketers Nottinghamshire cricketers Sussex cricketers British Asian cricketers Leicestershire cricketers English cricket coaches People educated at Bradford Grammar School