Imaad Fortuin (born Bjorn Fortuin; 21 October 1994) is a South African professional

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 str ...

er. He made his international debut for the

South Africa cricket team The South Africa national cricket team, also known as the Proteas, represents South Africa in men's international cricket and is administered by Cricket South Africa (CSA). South Africa is a full member of the International Cricket Council (I ...

in September 2019.

Domestic career

He was included in the

North West cricket team North West (formerly Western Transvaal) plays first-class cricket in South Africa. For the purposes of the SuperSport Series, North West has merged with Gauteng (formerly Transvaal) to form the Highveld Lions or, more simply, "the Lions". North ...

squad for the 2015 Africa T20 Cup. In August 2017, he was named in Durban Qalandars' squad for the first season of the

T20 Global League The Mzansi Super League (MSL) was a Twenty20 cricket (T20) franchise league held in South Africa. The competition was established in 2018 by Cricket South Africa (CSA) as a replacement for the failed T20 Global League, but only two editions wer ...

. However, in October 2017,

Cricket South Africa Cricket South Africa (CSA) is the governing body for both professional and amateur cricket in South Africa. In 1991, the separate South African Cricket Union and the South African Cricket Board merged to form the United Cricket Board of South Afr ...

initially postponed the tournament until November 2018, with it being cancelled soon after. In June 2018, he was named in the squad for the

Highveld Lions DP World Lions is a professional cricket team in Johannesburg, Gauteng. The home venue is the DP World Wanderers Stadium. The team plays in the CSA 4-Day Series first class cricket competition as well as in the Momentum 1 Day Cup, CSA Pro ...

team for the 2018–19 season. In October 2018, he was named in

Paarl Rocks Paarl (; Afrikaans: ; derived from ''Parel'', meaning "pearl" in Dutch) is a town with 112,045 inhabitants in the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is the third-oldest city and European settlement in the Republic of South Africa (after ...

' squad for the first edition of the Mzansi Super League T20 tournament. He was the leading wicket-taker in the

2018–19 CSA T20 Challenge The 2018–19 CSA T20 Challenge was the sixteenth season of the CSA T20 Challenge, established by Cricket South Africa. It took place from 5 April to 5 May 2019. Titans were the defending champions. In April 2019, Cricket South Africa announced ...

tournament, with fifteen dismissals in ten matches. In August 2019, he was named the CSA T20 Challenge Player of the Season at

's annual award ceremony. In September 2019, he was named in the squad for the

team for the 2019 Mzansi Super League tournament. In April 2021, he was named in

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

's squad, ahead of the 2021–22 cricket season in South Africa. On 1 April 2022, in Division One of the

2021–22 CSA One-Day Cup The 2021–22 CSA One-Day Cup was a List A cricket competition that took place in South Africa in March and April 2022. It was the first edition of the tournament in the post-franchise era, and the first edition to return to a two-division leagu ...

, Fortuin took his first five-wicket haul in List A cricket.

International career

In August 2019, he was named in South Africa's

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 the ...

(T20I) squad for their series against India. He made his T20I debut for South Africa, against

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, on 18 September 2019. In January 2020, he was named in South Africa's One Day International (ODI) squad for their series against England. He made his ODI debut for South Africa, against

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 b ...

, on 7 February 2020. In September 2021, Fortuin was named in South Africa's squad for the

2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventu ...

Personal life

On 24 April 2021, Fortuin converted to Islam, adopting the Muslim name of Imaad. He is the second South African international cricketer, after

Wayne Parnell Wayne Dillon Parnell (born 30 July 1989) is a South African professional cricketer who most recently played for Northamptonshire in English county cricket. Previously, Parnell played Test cricket, One Day International cricket and Twenty20 matc ...

, to convert to Islam.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fortuin, Bjorn 1994 births Living people South African cricketers South Africa One Day International cricketers South Africa Twenty20 International cricketers North West cricketers Paarl Rocks cricketers Cricketers from Paarl South African Muslims Converts to Islam