Pakistan name strong squad for South Africa 2020

Ghaffar Kazmi

Pakistan has named a strong side full of top players for the 2020 Over-50s World Cup in South Africa.

The side will be led by Ghaffar Kazmi, who scored a century at the 2018 World Cup in Australia. His vice-captain will be ex-international Sajid Ali, who is Pakistan’s leading run-scorer at this level (265 runs at 44.17), and who played 13 ODIs for Pakistan between 1984 and 1997.

The other ex-international in the squad is Mahmood Hamid, who played one ODI, along with almost 300 First-Class and List-A games.

Several members of the team that lost that nail-biting final to Australia in 2018 have returned for the 2020 edition. These include all-rounder Dastagir Butt, Jaffar Qureshi (one of the stars in Sydney), Babar Butt (the hero of the final), Zafar Ali and Asif Hayat.

Among the newcomers with first-class experience are Muhammad Javed, Mazhar Khan, Aziz ur Rehman, and Ahmed Hayat. Almost all of the squad members have played at least First-Class or List-A cricket.

Raja Arshad Hyat represented England at the 2018 World Cup, but has switched allegiances to his native Pakistan.

Pakistan squad: Ghaffar Kazmi (captain), Sajid Ali (vice-captain), Mahmood Hamid, Jaffar Qureshi, Dastagir Butt, Muhammad Javed, Babar Butt, Raja Arshad Hayat, Azhar Khan, Imtiaz Tarar, Aziz ur Rehman, Zafar Ali, Fawad Barry, Asif Hayat, Ahmed Hayat.

Team Manager: Behzad Anwar

Assistant Manager: Amir Sarfaraz

By Jim Morrison