Jigar Kumar Hakumatrai Naik (born 10 August 1984) is an English cricket player. Jigar was both at

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

and educated at Rushey Mead School and Gateway College in the city. He is, as of June 2015, playing for

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 t ...

. Naik who played for Kibworth and Billesdon as well as Loughborough MCCU, made history when he became the first Leicester-born Asian to play for Leicestershire in a first-class game against a touring West Indies A side. Naik took one wicket, that of test batsmen

Dwayne Smith Dwayne Romel Smith (born 12 April 1983) is a former Barbadian international cricketer who has represented the West Indies in all three formats of the game. An all-rounder, he is known as an aggressive and powerful right-handed batsman, bowls m ...

. In Naik's first county game against

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

in the

Pro40 The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on days o ...

, he took 3/24. Naik has been a consistsent performer since 2009. In 2009 he was named Leicestershire's most improved uncapped player. In 2010, Naik topped the national bowling averages with 35 wickets at an average of 17.59, including 7–96 against

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

The Oval The Oval, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club since ...

. A lot of credit for this has to go to his spin partner at Leics,

Claude Henderson Claude William Henderson (born 14 June 1972) is a South African former cricketer who bowled left-arm spin and played in seven Test matches and four One Day Internationals in 2001 to 2002. Domestic cricket Henderson played domestically for B ...

. Both received new 2-year contracts at the end of the 2011 season. Naik missed a large part of the 2012 season when he damaged ankle ligaments in early May, not making a comeback until August. Naik did make an excellent start to the 2013 season when he took 5–98 against

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

in early May. His season came to a premature end when he dislocated a shoulder against

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 traditi ...

on 12 July.

References

External links

* 1984 births Living people Leicestershire cricketers Cricketers from Leicester English cricketers Loughborough MCCU cricketers Leicestershire Cricket Board cricketers Dorset cricketers Dorset cricket captains British sportspeople of Indian descent British Asian cricketers {{england-cricket-bio-1980s-stub