Northants re-sign Faheem Ashraf for opening half of 2020 season

Faheem Ashraf will return to Northamptonshire for the first half of the season next year.

The Pakistan all-rounder played for the Steelbacks earlier in the summer during the 2019 Vitality Blast where he picked up 11 wickets in 11 games.

The 25-year-old, who is a regular in Pakistan's white-ball set-up, will be available for Northamptonshire in all formats of the game and the cricket club's head coach David Ripley believes Faheem has the ability to excel in red-ball cricket too.

“He’s a little bit different bowling wise to what we currently have, he’s got a little bit more pace, he’s a swing bowler and he’s got a batting average of 30 [in first-class cricket]."

“I think the key element for Faheem is although we signed him for white-ball cricket this year it was pretty clear to see he could bat properly. He’s played Test match cricket for Pakistan so he’s a genuine three formats cricketer," Ripley said.

Faheem has represented Pakistan in four Tests, 23 ODIs and 26 T20Is but failed to make it to the World Cup squad following a slump in form.

Northants' red-ball skipper Adam Rossington echoed Ripley's sentiments and hoped to see more of Faheem's batting in the longer format.

“I think he’s definitely a genuine allrounder, he’s a very good batsman and though we didn’t get to see him bat too many times in the T20 we know he’ll slot in well.”

“He’s very skilful and offers something a little bit different to the bowlers we’ve got. It does tend to be a bit more bowler-friendly here than in Pakistan, particularly with the Dukes ball so hopefully early season there’ll be a bit in the wickets for him," he added.

The experience of playing domestic cricket in England will assist Faheem in preparing ahead of Pakistan's tour of the country in July-August 2020.