Pak all-rounder Arafat urges countrymen to play more county cricket

Karachi: Pakistani all-rounder Yasir Arafat has urged more Pakistani cricketers to play English county cricket to improve their all-round game following Pakistan`s disappointing exit from the ICC Champions Trophy.

Although the stop-start career of Arafat, who made his debut 13 years ago, may indicate an unfulfilled talent or a mismanaged job, he continues to make headlines in domestic tournaments around the world including Pakistan, New Zealand, England and Bangladesh, www.PakPassion.net reports. According to the report, Arafat, who had spells in England with county sides Lancashire, Sussex, Kent and Surrey, was recently signed by Somerset for their Friends Life Twenty20 campaign this season to nurture his potential as a front line bowler and useful lower order batsman with T20 skills. Expressing his delight at being picked by one of the most well known county sides in England, Arafat urged more of his countrymen to play county cricket to improve their all-round game, adding that he feels fortunate that he has had multiple chances to participate in the county games. According to Arafat, Somerset is a good team with excellent players like Marcus Trescothick, Craig Kieswetter and Peter Trego and has a proven pedigree in twenty-over cricket, adding that he hopes to perform well in the Friends Life T20 and to help Somerset achieve their goals this season. Although he is disheartened with the way his career has progressed on the international scene, however, Arafat said that he approaches such opportunities with a positive outlook and feels that the hunger to perform at all levels still lingers on, adding that he feels that his playing in county cricket is another step towards a possible return to his national team. According to Arafat, even though he has played a lot of county cricket over the years, with each team presenting different challenges, he would never get tired of playing top-level cricket. To date, Arafat has played only three Test matches for Pakistan scoring 94 runs and taking nine wickets. He has also played 11 ODIs making 74 runs and taking four wickets whilst his T20 record reads as 13 games played, scoring 92 runs with 16 wickets to his name, the report added. (ANI)