LONDON: Fast bowler Hassan Ali has officially inked a deal to play for English county side Yorkshire as their overseas player in the forthcoming Vitality Blast T20 competition.
The move was confirmed by Yorkshire County Cricket Club in a recent announcement in which the club stated that the Pakistani fast bowler would feature for them in this year’s T20 competition. Besides, Hassan Ali will be part of Yorkshire in the upcoming County Championship as well and play in two games.
According to sources, Hassan Ali was signed by Yorkshire to fill the void left by Afghanistan’s Naveen-ul-Haq, who cannot take the field owing to an injury.
Speaking of Hassan Ali’s signing, Yorkshire’s Cricket General Manager, Gavin Hamilton, said, “Hassan Ali has an impressive skill set and a wealth of experience at his disposal, and we look forward to him joining us at Headingley later this month.”
It seems that Yorkshire have made a shrewd signing, given that Hassan Ali can add valuable experience and energy to their pace battery.
PCB bans Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani for two years from PSL participation
Meanwhile, The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has banned Zimbabwe’s cricket player Blessing Muzarabani from participating in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) for two years. This ban came after it was noted that Muzarabani had breached the contract signed between himself and the PSL and joined the Indian Premier League (IPL).
According to the PCB, Blessing Muzarabani joined IPL while he still had an active contract with the PSL. The PCB stated that professional cricket involves trust and agreements being kept. He needed to act professionally in the PSL environment as well as during other competitions like the IPL.
“The Professional game requires trust and assurance through contractual agreements,” a spokesman for the PCB said. “Players participating in franchise tournaments have to do so with professionalism and transparency.”
The PCB went ahead to state that it is important to ban players who do not meet the required professionalism. Such players and their agents must understand that there is a need to maintain the standards of the tournaments.
“This step is taken to maintain the standards of the PSL environment and its tournaments,” the spokesman added.
