Qamar Ahmed: Notts terminate Zahid's contract (31 May 1997)

31 May 1997

Notts terminate Zahid's contract

By Qamar Ahmed

LONDON, May 30: Mohammad Zahid, the young Pakistan medium-fast bowler who was signed early this month to play for English county Nottinghamshire, has been released of his contract because of injury. Last night he was diagnosed to have stress fracture of the lower back and has been thus asked to quit without having played a single game for the county. For 21-year-old Zahid this must have come as a big blow, for he was hoping not only to enrich his skill and experience but also gain monetarily through a lucrative one-season contract worth 60,000 pounds. "I am heart-broken. This is a big blow for me. I did not realise that the injury is that serious. But now I have to take a long rest and prescribed exercise," says a dejected Zahid.

His replacement has been requested by the county and the England Cricket Board (ECB) is likely to make a decision in a couple of days to allow or disallow the club to have another signing. But the county officials are optimistic that they will be given the permission for another overseas professional. It could be Paul Reiffel of Australia who himself have an unreliable track record because of recent injuries and also at any time likely to be called to join the Australian touring team in case of injuries to any fast bowler.

The likely candidate to replace the injured Zahid is his compatriot Ata-ur-Rehman who has been seen bowling in the nets at Nottingham county ground. Ata is playing in league cricket around the area and is fit. Another Pakistani, a Rawalpindi-born youngster Usman Afzaal, son of an army officer, who has been schooled in England and is still in his teens, has however become the toast of the county in the current summer having scored four scores of over fifty in his last five innings for the county. Having made his first class debut in 1995 for the county, Afzaal, a left-handed batsman and a slow left-arm bowler, is being tipped to play for England in the near future if he continues to impress people on the county circuit.

Injury problems are also a source of concern for the Pakistan paceman Wasim Akram who has missed out on the last two matches for his county, Lancashire, because of recurrence of shoulder injury, which kept him out of the Test matches against Sri Lanka on Pakistan's recent tour. Also on the injury list is Mohammad Akram playing for Northamptonshire. Not much has been heard of him lately after a successful debut for the county early during the season.

Source:: Dawn (https://xiber.com/dawn/)