Nezam Ahmed Hafiz (21 April 1969 – 11 September 2001) was a Guyanese-born American

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 ...

er. Hafiz was a right-handed 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 ...

who bowled right-arm

medium pace 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 was killed in the North Tower during the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

Cricket career

Having played cricket from a young age, Hafiz captained the Guyana Under-19 cricket team in the 1988 Northern Telecom Youth Tournament, a tournament with other under-19 teams from the West Indies. His first match as under-19 captain came against Trinidad and Tobago Under-19s, captained by

Brian Lara Brian Charles Lara, (born 2 May 1969) is a Trinidadian former international cricketer, widely renowned as one of the greatest Batting (cricket), batsmen of all time. He holds several cricketing records, including the record for the highest in ...

. Hafiz made his first-class debut later that year for

Demerara Demerara (; , ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state from 1792 unti ...

in the final of the 1988/89

Guystac Trophy The Guystac Trophy was a Guyanese inter-county cricket tournament, the final of which had first-class status. The tournament was played annually, the final being usually between Demerara and Berbice Berbice () is a region along the Berbice Ri ...

against

Berbice Berbice () is a region along the Berbice River in Guyana, which was between 1627 and 1792 a colony of the Dutch West India Company and between 1792 and 1815 a colony of the Dutch state. After having been ceded to the United Kingdom of Great Brita ...

, with the match ending in a draw. His debut for

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

against

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

in that same seasons Red Stripe Cup. Struggling to find a regular starting place in what was a strong Guyana team of the 1980s and early 1990s, he made four further first-class appearances for Guyana, the last of which came against the

Leeward Islands The Leeward Islands () are a group of islands situated where the northeastern Caribbean Sea meets the western Atlantic Ocean. Starting with the Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico, they extend southeast to Guadeloupe and its dependencies. In Engl ...

. In his five first-class matches for Guyana, he scored 40 runs at an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

of 10.00, with a high score of 30. He made two

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, 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 competit ...

appearances for his home country, with both coming in the 1988/89

Geddes Grant Shield The Super50 Cup, currently named the CG Insurance Super50 Cup for sponsorship purposes is the domestic one-day cricket competition in the West Indies. It was previously known as the KFC Cup until the fast food chain pulled out of sponsorship i ...

against the Leeward Islands and the

Windward Islands The Windward Islands are the southern, generally larger islands of the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean islands or the West Indies. Located approximately between latitudes 10° and 16° N and longitudes 60° and 62° W, they extend from D ...

. He joined his parents and two older sisters in New York in 1992, prior to his departure he donated his cricket equipment to his local cricket club in Georgetown. Following his relocation to the United States, Hafiz went on to play a single List A match for the

United States national cricket team The United States men's national cricket team is the team that represents the United States in international cricket. The team was formerly organized by the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), which became an List of Interna ...

against the Leeward Islands when the United States were invited to take part in the

1998–99 Red Stripe Bowl The 1998–99 Red Stripe Bowl was the 25th season of what is now the Regional Super50, the domestic limited-overs cricket competition for the countries of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB). It ran from 6 to 19 October 1998. Eight teams cont ...

. In his only major appearance for the United States, he was absent hurt in their batting innings. He also toured England with the United States team in 2000.

Death

Hafiz was killed in the

on the

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. He had been working as a financial assistant for insurance company

Marsh and McLennan Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., doing business as Marsh McLennan, is a global professional services firm, headquartered in New York City with businesses in insurance brokerage, risk management, reinsurance services, talent management, invest ...

, whose office was on the 94th floor of Tower One. At the time of his death he was living at

South Ozone Park, Queens South Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is just north of John F. Kennedy International Airport, between Aqueduct Racetrack to the west and the Van Wyck Expressway to the east. ...

. His name is one of the 2,983 names inscribed at the

National September 11 Memorial & Museum The National September 11 Memorial & Museum (also known as the 9/11 Memorial & Museum) is a memorial and museum that are part of the World Trade Center complex, in New York City, created for remembering the September 11 attacks in 2001 which k ...

at the World Trade Center site. His name can be found on Panel N-6 of the North Pool. Hafiz's remains have never been identified.

References

External links

Nezam Hafiz
at

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Nezam Hafiz
at CricketArchive * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hafiz, Nezam 1969 births 2001 deaths American Muslims Demerara cricketers Guyanese cricketers American cricketers Guyana cricketers Indo-Guyanese people Guyanese emigrants to the United States American people of Indo-Guyanese descent American sportspeople of Guyanese descent American sportspeople of Indian descent Guyanese Muslims Guyanese terrorism victims Victims of the September 11 attacks Terrorism deaths in New York (state) People from East Berbice-Corentyne People murdered in New York City