LONDON: Nottinghamshire have left-armers – New Zealand’s Ben Lister and Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi – for the group stages of the T20 Blast this season, hoping to emulate the success T20 captain Shaheen Shah Afridi brought to the Pakistan T20 team last summer.
Lister, who has amassed 13 limited-overs caps for his country, is not expected to be part of their World Cup squad. He will join Notts for the opening eight matches of the Blast’s group stage before being replaced by Farooqi.
Pending his No-Objection Certificate from the Afghanistan Cricket Board, Farooqi will make his county cricket debut after the T20 World Cup, where he will lead the Afghanistan attack.
Shaheen bagged 22 goals in his 14 appearances for Notts last season, including four goals in one game in the loss to Birmingham Bears. However, he will miss the Blast this summer due to a scheduling conflict with the T20 World Cup, where he will lead Pakistan, prompting Notts to look for alternative options.
“Given the success Shaheen had with us last year, it made sense to reintroduce left-arm seam options,” Notts head coach Peter Moores said in a press release. “It creates a different set of challenges for the batsmen. We have proven wickets in Ben and Fazalhaq who can influence the game at crucial moments, which is what we are after.”
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“Ben is an exciting talent who is establishing himself on the world stage after consistent domestic performances. He has made a difference in the teams he has played for and has the potential to do the same with us. Meanwhile, Fazalhaq is world class.” a player with experience in the franchise circuit and in international cricket, with a proven ability to beat death.
His know-how under pressure will be important in our group stage.” Notts finished fourth in Group North last year and were beaten by eventual champions Somerset in the quarter-finals.
The Blast will have a new squad this year following the departures of Samit Patel (Derbyshire) and Jake Ball (Somerset), with Steven Mullaney expected to feature predominantly in the Notts Second XI after taking on a player-coach role.
