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The former Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Amir is set to join Derbyshire as a local player next season.
Amir, 31, retired from international cricket in 2020 and is seeking British citizenship – his wife is a British citizen – ahead of signing a deal with Derbyshire.
Amir earned infamy in 2010 as an 18-year-old when he was one of two bowlers (the other being the more experienced Mohammad Asif) to deliberately bowl no-balls during a Test tour of England.
That led to Amir being banned for five years by the International Cricket Council and serving half of a six-month custodial sentence in young offenders institutes in Feltham and Dorset. Asif and the captain Salman Butt were also jailed and handed bans by the ICC.
Amir returned to international cricket in 2016, but retired during the pandemic. Since, he has been a travelling freelancer, playing in Pakistan, England, Bangladesh and the Caribbean. At times, he was a world-class player in all three formats, picking up 259 wickets for Pakistan, including 119 in Tests.
Amir has experience of playing county cricket, mainly for Essex, but also Gloucestershire. He also played the first season of the Hundred for Lord’s-based London Spirit. If he becomes a British citizen, he would be able to play in the Hundred as a local, too.
Derbyshire have an unusual link with Pakistan as their head coach, Mickey Arthur, is also director of cricket for Pakistan, mainly operating remotely in the English season. South African Arthur has been full-time head coach of four countries, including Pakistan when Amir was a key member of their attack been 2016 and 2019.
Arthur is looking to rebuild Derbyshire, who regularly find themselves in the lower reaches of the County Championship. He has signed Pat Brown from Worcestershire and is also thought to be keen on picking up the former England all-rounder Samit Patel from Nottinghamshire. However, Derbyshire could lose their captain Leus du Plooy, whose suitors include Middlesex.
Amir, 31, retired from international cricket in 2020 and is seeking British citizenship – his wife is a British citizen – ahead of signing a deal with Derbyshire.
Amir earned infamy in 2010 as an 18-year-old when he was one of two bowlers (the other being the more experienced Mohammad Asif) to deliberately bowl no-balls during a Test tour of England.
That led to Amir being banned for five years by the International Cricket Council and serving half of a six-month custodial sentence in young offenders institutes in Feltham and Dorset. Asif and the captain Salman Butt were also jailed and handed bans by the ICC.
Amir returned to international cricket in 2016, but retired during the pandemic. Since, he has been a travelling freelancer, playing in Pakistan, England, Bangladesh and the Caribbean. At times, he was a world-class player in all three formats, picking up 259 wickets for Pakistan, including 119 in Tests.
Amir has experience of playing county cricket, mainly for Essex, but also Gloucestershire. He also played the first season of the Hundred for Lord’s-based London Spirit. If he becomes a British citizen, he would be able to play in the Hundred as a local, too.
Derbyshire have an unusual link with Pakistan as their head coach, Mickey Arthur, is also director of cricket for Pakistan, mainly operating remotely in the English season. South African Arthur has been full-time head coach of four countries, including Pakistan when Amir was a key member of their attack been 2016 and 2019.
Arthur is looking to rebuild Derbyshire, who regularly find themselves in the lower reaches of the County Championship. He has signed Pat Brown from Worcestershire and is also thought to be keen on picking up the former England all-rounder Samit Patel from Nottinghamshire. However, Derbyshire could lose their captain Leus du Plooy, whose suitors include Middlesex.
The county transfer market is active at the moment, with out of contract Kent wicketkeeper-batsman Jordan Cox – who was in an England white-ball squad to tour Pakistan last year – weighing up a move away from Canterbury.
Surprisingly, Essex appear the leading contenders as they seek a replacement for Surrey-bound Dan Lawrence, but Hampshire are also thought to be interested while Kent want Cox to stay with them.
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