PROFILE

Azeem began to put the 2010 season behind him with some exceptional performances in 2011. His foolish Twitter tirade against the England management while on England Under-19 duty led to a month’s ban and severe embarrassment, but Azeem seems to have learned from his mistakes and is becoming a more mature cricketer with the potential to be the real deal.

He spent a month on loan with Derbyshire early in the summer where he impressed and benefitted from 1^st Team exposure. Again, his season was ended prematurely, this time through injury which kept him out of the second half of the summer, but he had shown his worth in the FPt20 matches where his 8 wickets cost 28.37 and with the lowest economy rate in the Yorkshire squad of 7.32 an over. His highlight came at Old Trafford where his Man of the Match 3-15 and nerveless 11 off 4 balls at the death showed his big match temperament

The Twitter ban in 2010 was a step back for Azeem who had shown signs of his rich potential in 2009 when, for the 2nd Team he had grabbed 6 Championship wickets at 34.16 and 5 Trophy wickets at 24.00.

He was given an introduction to Championship cricket in 2009 and helped himself to five wickets in the match on his debut against Sussex at Headingley Carnegie when Yorkshire came close to victory and in his next game against Worcestershire at New Road he rapped out a maiden century. He learned that you cannot succeed every time by bagging a pair and failing to take a wicket at Hove but such disappointments are all part and parcel of a young player’s learning curve.

During last winter, Azeem captain England in the Under 19s World Cup tournament and coach, Mark Robinson, described him as an outstanding leader. Azeem has captained the England Under-15s and Under-19s, and became the first Yorkshire cricket player from an Asian background to captain an England cricket side at any level.

Rafiq was a recipient of a Brian Johnston Memorial Trust Scholarship to give young cricketers financial support, and was awarded the Yorkshire CCC Academy Player of the Year in 2008.

Azeem coped superbly in 2008 with the controversy surrounding his Yorkshire Twenty20 Cup debut against Notts Outlaws when it was later discovered that he was not registered for first team cricket. He marked his Second XI Championship debut with a five wicket haul against Lancashire at Headingley Carnegie.  

JAMES BUTTLER
January 2012