Ajmal Shahzad (born 27 July 1985) is an English

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

coach and retired cricketer. As a right-arm

fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. ...

, 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 one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is official ...

for five counties

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

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 ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

and

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire ...

between 2004 and 2017. Shahzad made his international debut 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 ...

in a

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are th ...

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

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s and one Test match ( against Bangladesh in 2010) for his country. Following his playing career, Shahzad initially became an assistant coach at

Marylebone Cricket Club Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influe ...

's youth team.. He succeeded Steve Kirby as the club's Head Coach in February 2019.

Family and education

Ajmal Shahzad grew up in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, where he attended

Bradford Grammar School Bradford Grammar School (BGS) is a co-educational independent day school located in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Entrance is by examination, except for the sixth form, where admission is based on GCSE results. The school gi ...

and Woodhouse Grove School; he lived close to fellow cricketer

Adil Rashid Adil Usman Rashid (born 17 February 1988) is an English cricketer who plays for England in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, and previously played for the Test team. In domestic cricket, he represents Yo ...

. Shahzad studied four months of pharmacy at

Bradford University The University of Bradford is a public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be created in Britain, but ...

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 univ ...

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 In cricket, the batting order is the sequence in which batters play through their team's innings, there always being two batters taking part at any one time. All eleven players in a team are required to bat if the innings is completed (i.e., i ...

. 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 used ...

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

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

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 bowling 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. A right-arm fast bowler, he was also a competent lower-order batsman whose unbeaten 201 in his last Test matc ...

, 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 ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

, 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 In the game of cricket, a team who batted second and scored significantly fewer runs than the team who batted first may be forced to follow-on: to take their second innings immediately after their first. The follow-on can be enforced by the team ...

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 The 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup was the tenth Cricket World Cup. It was played in India, Sri Lanka, and for the first time in Bangladesh. India won the tournament, defeating Sri Lanka by 6 wickets in the final at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, thus ...

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.

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 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 British sportspeople of Pakistani descent Leicestershire cricketers English cricket coaches