Hammad Shahid (born December 7, 1991) is an American
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 striki ...
er who made his debut for the
United States national cricket team
The United States national cricket team is the team that represents the United States in international cricket. The team was formerly organised by the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), which became an associate member of ...
in November 2012. 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''. T ...
Anaheim
Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, but his parents, Pakistani immigrants, moved to
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...
when he was an infant. However, they returned to California when he was six years old, settling in
Cypress
Cypress is a common name for various coniferous trees or shrubs of northern temperate regions that belong to the family Cupressaceae. The word ''cypress'' is derived from Old French ''cipres'', which was imported from Latin ''cypressus'', the ...
. Shahid attended
Cypress High School
Cypress High School is a public high school in the city of Cypress, California. It was founded in 1973 and serves grades 9 through 12. Cypress is one of eight high schools in the Anaheim Union High School District (AUHSD).
History
Cypress was fir ...
, playing basketball for the school team, and played club cricket in the Southern California Cricket Association (SCCA).Peter Della Penna (November 2, 2009) "USA's own Rawalpindi Express, Hammad Shahid, takes batsmen on a hellish ride" – DreamCricket. Retrieved July 10, 2015. His debut for the U.S. under-19 team came when he was 17, at the 2009 Under-19 World Cup Qualifier in Canada.Miscellaneous matches played by Hammad Shahid – CricketArchive. Retrieved July 10, 2015. There, he took six wickets from six matches, with a best of 2/12 from 7.4 overs against
Vanuatu
Vanuatu ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Vanuatu (french: link=no, République de Vanuatu; bi, Ripablik blong Vanuatu), is an island country located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is east of no ...
. At the 2010 World Cup in New Zealand, Shahid featured in four matches, all of which had under-19
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 ...
(ODI) status. His best figures came in the final match of the tournament, the 15th-place playoff against
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
, where he took 3/18 from seven overs to be named
man of the match
In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...
. Shahid was still young enough to play at the 2011 Under-19 World Cup Qualifier, but the U.S. failed to qualify for the 2012 World Cup (where he would have been ineligible).
In November 2012, Shahid was one of seven uncapped players selected in the United States squad for the annual
Auty Cup
The K.A. Auty Cup Trophy is an international cricket series played between Canada and the United States. It is reputed to be the first and longest running international sporting fixture of any type. It has been an annual series hosted alternately ...
series against
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. He was only recalled to the national squad in April 2015, for the 2015 Americas Twenty20 Championship the following month. He was one of only four American-born players in the squad, the others being Akeem Dodson,
Jasdeep Singh
Jasdeep "Jessy" Singh (born February 10, 1993) is an American cricketer who made his debut for the U.S. national side in May 2015. He is a right-arm medium-pace bowler who bats right-handed.Steven Taylor. At the tournament, Shahid played in four of a possible six matches, but failed to take any wickets. Despite this, he was retained in the U.S. squad for the 2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier in Ireland and Scotland, and went on to make his formal
Twenty20
Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single innin ...
debut in the opening match of the tournament against
Nepal
Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne,
सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...
.
In June 2021, he was selected to take part in the
Minor League Cricket
Minor League Cricket (branded as the Toyota Minor League Cricket Championship presented by Sling TV for sponsorship reasons, and sometimes shortened to MiLC) is an American Twenty20 cricket developmental league for Major League Cricket which com ...
tournament in the United States following the players' draft.