Ahmed Raza (Emirati cricketer)

Ahmed Raza
Personal information
Born (1988-10-10) 10 October 1988 (age 36)
Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
Height6 ft 5 in (196 cm)[1]
BattingRight handed
BowlingSlow left-arm orthodox
RoleBowler
International information
National side
ODI debut (cap 41)1 February 2014 v Scotland
Last ODI18 November 2022 v Nepal
T20I debut (cap 12)19 March 2014 v Ireland
Last T20I20 October 2022 v Namibia
Career statistics
Competition ODI T20I FC LA
Matches 51 54 20 105
Runs scored 382 122 391 737
Batting average 11.57 12.20 13.96 11.69
100s/50s 0/1 0/0 0/0 0/1
Top score 50 22 45 50
Balls bowled 2,747 1,062 4,126 5,400
Wickets 63 37 67 142
Bowling average 29.39 31.59 25.98 24.82
5 wickets in innings 1 1 5 2
10 wickets in match 0 0 0 0
Best bowling 5/26 5/19 7/37 5/26
Catches/stumpings 25/– 19/– 17/– 49/–
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 29 November 2022

Ahmed Raza (Urdu: احمد رضا; born 10 October 1988) is a cricketer who plays for the United Arab Emirates national cricket team.[2] Raza is a right-handed batsman who bowls slow left-arm orthodox.[3]

Personal life

Raza was born and raised in Sharjah, the youngest of four siblings.[4] He is the son of Pakistani parents Shamim and Syed Zahid Kazmi. His father ran a plumbing business in Sharjah,[5] having immigrated to the UAE in 1972 to work as an electrical engineer.[6]

As of 2012, Raza was employed by United Bank Limited.[4] He married business analyst Mehreen Tahir in 2021.[7]

Junior career

Raza started playing street cricket at a young age and joined Shahzad Altaf's cricket academy at the age of 13.[4] He began as a left-arm fast bowler, modelling his technique on that of Pakistani fast bowling great Wasim Akram, but switched to left-arm spin as a teenager.[5] He failed to make the national under-15 squad, but in 2004 represented the UAE at the Under-17 Asia Cup in India.[4]

International career

Raza made his List-A debut against India A in 2006. In 2007, he made his first-class debut against Scotland in the 2006 ICC Intercontinental Cup. In the 2009 ACC Twenty20 Cup Raza was the UAE's joint leading wicket taker with twelve wickets along with Moiz Shahid.[citation needed]

In March 2013, Raza was named as the interim captain of the UAE for the 2013 ACC Twenty20 Cup in Nepal.[8] In September 2013 he took career-best figures of 7/37 against Namibia in the 2011-13 ICC Intercontinental Cup.[9]

In January 2018, he was named in the United Arab Emirates' squad for the 2018 ICC World Cricket League Division Two tournament.[10]

In August 2018, he was included in the United Arab Emirates' squad for the 2018 Asia Cup Qualifier tournament.[11] Despite the UAE losing the final to Hong Kong, he was named the player of the tournament, after taking sixteen wickets.[12]

In December 2018, he was named in the United Arab Emirates' team for the 2018 ACC Emerging Teams Asia Cup.[13] He was the leading wicket-taker for the United Arab Emirates in the tournament, with six dismissals in three matches.[14] Later the same month, he was one of three players to be given an eight-week ban from international cricket for breaching the Emirates Cricket Board's Player's Code of Conduct,[15] after using Twitter to criticise the facilities in Karachi during the tournament.[16] In January 2019, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had accepted apologies from all the cricketers involved.[17] In March 2019, he returned to the UAE's squad following his suspension for their series against the United States.[18]

In mid-2019, while on holiday in the United Kingdom, Raza was asked to train with Australia prior to the second Test of the 2019 Ashes series at Lord's, to prepare their batsmen to face left-arm spinner Jack Leach. Raza had earlier been a net bowler for Australia during the series against Pakistan in the UAE in March 2019.[19]

In September 2019, he was named in the United Arab Emirates' squad for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the UAE.[20] However, prior to the tournament, he replaced Mohammad Naveed as captain, after Naveed was withdrawn from the squad.[21][22] In December 2019, he was named as the captain of the ODI squad for the 2019 United Arab Emirates Tri-Nation Series.[23]

In January 2020, in the fourth match of the 2020 Oman Tri-Nation Series against Namibia, he took his first five-wicket haul in ODI cricket.[24] In December 2020, he was one of ten cricketers to be awarded with a year-long full-time contract by the Emirates Cricket Board.[25]

Franchise career

On 3 June 2018, he was selected to play for the Edmonton Royals in the players' draft for the inaugural edition of the Global T20 Canada tournament.[26][27]

Raza played for the Karnataka Tuskers in the 2019 T10 League.[28]

References

  1. ^ "Ahmed Raza's bio on CricX". CricX - The Cricket Exchange Agency. Archived from the original on 28 November 2022. Retrieved 16 October 2022. Regarded as a "boa constrictor" with the ball, the left-arm tweaker is also a surprisingly athletic fielder for a man of his 6'5" stature.
  2. ^ "Captains share their thoughts ahead of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier A". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  3. ^ "From Ahmed Raza to Zahoor Khan - 13 UAE players who would be great cover options during IPL 2020". The National. Retrieved 5 August 2020.
  4. ^ a b c d Passela, Amith (1 October 2012). "Ahmed Raza's blessing in disguise". The National. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  5. ^ a b Radley, Paul (21 March 2020). "Ahmed Raza: 'I've never played a UAE game without calling my mother'". The National. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  6. ^ Radley, Paul (5 January 2021). "'Every win I get, will be for him' - UAE captain Ahmed Raza motivated to honour his late father in one-day series against Ireland". The National. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  7. ^ Radley, Paul (23 November 2021). "'Everything was ready, but God had different plans' - Ahmed Raza on life as a newlywed". The National. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  8. ^ Radley, Paul (5 March 2013). "New UAE cricket captain Ahmed Raza dreaming of World Twenty20 qualification". The National. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  9. ^ Radley, Paul (22 September 2013). "Raza in seven heaven for UAE in Sharjah". The National. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  10. ^ "Six teams vying for the final two spots in ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2018". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 29 January 2018.
  11. ^ "Emirates Cricket Board officially announces team to represent the UAE in the Asia Cup Qualifiers 2018". Emirates Cricket Board. Retrieved 18 August 2018.
  12. ^ "ACC Asia Cup Qualifier Final: Hong Kong Edge UAE in Thrilling Final to Qualify for Asia Cup". Asian Cricket Council. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  13. ^ "Emirates Cricket Board announce team that will represent the UAE in Asia Cricket's Emerging Teams Asia Cup 2018". Emirates Cricket Board. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  14. ^ "Asian Cricket Council Emerging Teams Cup, 2018/19 - United Arab Emirates Emerging Team: Minor cricket (one-day/limited overs): Batting and bowling averages". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  15. ^ "Three UAE players suspended for eight weeks from international cricket". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  16. ^ "UAE captain Rohan Mustafa among three players suspended for eight weeks by Emirates Cricket Board". The National. Retrieved 19 December 2018.
  17. ^ "PCB accepts UAE players' apologies". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
  18. ^ "Mohammed Naveed says UAE have 'four to six captains' as he retains armband for USA series". The National. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
  19. ^ Radley, Paul (13 October 2019). "Ahmed Raza: the UAE spinner helping Steve Smith and Australia in their Ashes victory bid". The National. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  20. ^ "Emirates Cricket Board announces side to compete in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifiers 2019". Emirates Cricket Board. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
  21. ^ "Mohammed Naveed replaced as UAE captain, withdrawn from T20 World Cup Qualifier". The National. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  22. ^ "Captains speak of their chances in ICC Men's T20 World Cup Qualifier 2019". International Cricket Council. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  23. ^ "ECB announce team to represent the UAE in ICC Men's WCL2". Emirates Cricket Board. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  24. ^ "Ahmed Raza guides UAE to biggest ODI win in 26 years as they crush Namibia in World Cup League Two". The National. Retrieved 9 January 2020.
  25. ^ "Rameez Shahzad omitted from latest list of centrally contracted UAE cricketers". The National. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
  26. ^ "Global T20 Canada: Complete Squads". SportsKeeda. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  27. ^ "Global T20 Canada League – Full Squads announced". CricTracker. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
  28. ^ Nayar, K.R (17 November 2019). "Ahmed Raza holds UAE flag high as T10 matchwinner". Gulf News. Retrieved 30 January 2022.