Meet the youngest player to have made a Derbyshire debut in County Championship

In what can be made for a very interesting story, Derbyshire has handed a county championship debut to a cricketer who is still a school-goer. All of 16 years, Hamidullah Qadri is the youngest cricketer to make a debut in the county championship. The young boy hails from Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he grew up playing football and tennis. In 2011, his family relocated from the war-hit country to England, where Qadri developed an interest in cricket.

County cricket in England is a great platform for youngsters to horn their skills. Besides, players from any part of the world can take part in it. Many of the Indian domestic cricketers also travel to England to play cricket during the off-season in India. For Qadri, who never had an interest in cricket in the first place, it was all sudden and unexpected.

“I never looked to play cricket, I just came over with family and played a bit in school,” he told BCC after making his debut. “From there I played a bit in the park and moved on to play for a club and caught some of the coaches’ eyes and obviously I got into cricket from there on.It’s been a journey full of good things, it’s been wonderful so far.”

The pitch condition influenced his selection 

The off-break bowler, batting on No. 11, faced his maiden first-class delivery from a pink ball under lights at Cardiff. Luckily, he was bowled off a no-ball and finished his innings with an unbeaten 11 from eight balls, in which he also struck two boundaries. The visitors were all out for 288 and the no-ball helped the young boy calm his nerves.

“It was a decent ball, hit top of off stump. I was lucky enough it was a no ball so I had a second chance, and just got to enjoy it,” he said.

He also revealed that he was informed about his inclusion in the playing XI only a while before the toss was held because the wicket suited his style of bowling.

“They (Durham’s selectors) looked at the wicket and it was a spinning wicket, so Billy (Godleman, the captain) came up to me and said ‘you’ll be playing. No words to describe the feelings I’ve got. I’m quite happy. Hard work pays off. ”

Qadar is just another chapter in Afghanistan’s abundant talent in cricket.