Mohammad Azharullah (born 25 December 1983) is an English Pakistani cricketer, who most recently played in England for Northamptonshire. Azharullah is a right-arm fast-medium bowler who also bats right-handed.

Mohammad Azharullah
Personal information
Full name
Mohammad Azharullah
Born (1983-12-25) 25 December 1983 (age 40)
Burewala, Punjab, Pakistan
BattingRight-handed
BowlingRight-arm fast-medium
RoleBowler
Domestic team information
YearsTeam
2004–2007Multan
2004–2013WAPDA
2005–2009Multan Tigers
2005Quetta
2006Quetta Bears
2008Baluchistan
2013–2017Northamptonshire (squad no. 92)
2019Northamptonshire (squad no. 92)
FC debut15 December 2004 Multan v Karachi Whites
LA debut3 April 2005 WAPDA v Pakistan Telecommunication
Career statistics
Competition FC LA T20
Matches 115 71 64
Runs scored 1,000 95 24
Batting average 12.82 6.33 24.00
100s/50s 0/1 0/0 0/0
Top score 58* 9 6*
Balls bowled 18,870 3,137 1,254
Wickets 383 96 71
Bowling average 28.05 30.92 24.83
5 wickets in innings 20 3 0
10 wickets in match 3 0 0
Best bowling 7/74 5/38 4/14
Catches/stumpings 26/– 13/– 10/–
Source: CricketArchive, 30 September 2019

Career in Pakistan edit

Azharullah made his first-class cricket debut for Multan in December 2004 against Karachi Whites.[1]

He played 49 first-class matches in Pakistan between the 2004–05 and 2009–10 seasons, together with another four in the 2012–13 season, for Baluchistan, Multan, Punjab, Quetta and Water and Power Development Authority. During this time he took 190 first-class wickets at an average of 26.62. His most prolific season was 2007–08, when he took 52 wickets for Water and Power Development Authority and Baluchistan.

Northants career edit

In 2009 Azharullah married an English woman and played league cricket in Yorkshire with the intention of later playing county cricket.[2][3]

Azharullah signed for Northants for the 2013 season[4] and he made an immediate impact, especially in the Twenty20 competition. He took the most wickets in the competition that year, with 27 at 12.62 and played in the final, against Surrey[5] He has continued to be a regular in the Northants team in all three forms of the game and his initial one-year contract was renewed once, and further extended to last until 2017.[6] He has returned twice to Twenty20 finals day, Northants finishing runners-up in 2015,[7] and beating Durham in the 2016 final.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ "Karachi Region Whites v Multan Region at Karachi, 15-18 December 2004". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 4 October 2013.
  2. ^ Atkinson, Neil (17 August 2013). "How former Huddersfield cricketer Mohammed Azharullah was bowled over by love". Huddersfield Daily Examiner. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  3. ^ Culley, Jon. "Azharullah brings romance to Finals Day". Cricinfo. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  4. ^ Dobell, George. "Northants bring in Pakistani seamer". Cricinfo. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  5. ^ Gibson, Richard (17 August 2013). "Northamptonshire's David Willey's treble sees off Surrey in t20 final". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  6. ^ Vickers, Tom. "Azharullah agrees new deal at Northants". Northants Telegraph. Retrieved 7 August 2016.
  7. ^ Rae, Richard (29 August 2015). "Lancashire clinch T20 title by holding nerve against Northamptonshire". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  8. ^ Macpherson, Will (20 August 2016). "Josh Cobb steers Northants over line to win NatWest T20 Blast against Durham". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 September 2016.

External links edit