No Afridi for Hampshire Royals, confirms the club management – Cricket News Update
Flamboyant Pakistan all-rounder, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482, will not be available to English county Hampshire for this summer’s ongoing Friends Life T20 campaign, due to visa issues. This was confirmed by the Hampshire cricket team's manager
Giles White on Saturday.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-c89347 Afridi, the 32-year-old hard-hitting batsman who performed at his best as Hampshire made it to the Flt20 finals last season, could not arrive at the Rose Bowl on time for the start of the tournament. However, he was set
to join the Royals for the final three matches of their campaign.
Initially he planned to fly directly from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 to the UK, after completing the ODI series against the Islanders, but visa problems forced him to fly back to Pakistan. Eventually, owing to further delays in visa issuance,
both the parties decided to call it off for this season.
Speaking to the media reporters on Saturday, Giles said that it was a sad news for the county that Afridi will not be joining them this time around; however, he said that the Pakistani all-rounder will be welcome at Hampshire
in the future.
"Although Shahid will not be returning this time around, the door is still open for him to return to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hampshire-c789 in future years should circumstances suit both parties," said Giles White during a media encounter yesterday.
The prolific http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 cricketer, who started his career as a hard-hitting batting all-rounder, developed into a seasoned leg-spin bowler over the past couple of years. Last year, he enjoyed a highly successful stay with Hampshire
as a bowler, claiming 17 wickets in 10 matches at an impressive average of 11.17.
Little known Australian batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Kent-c802.
Giles White turned down the possibility of hiring a high-profile overseas player for the last three matches, saying the side is well settled and will continue with the winning combination.
"He obviously had a huge impact for us last year and has been missed. However, we are now deep into the 2012 competition and the side is settled so we don't feel it is right to change that now."
After finishing the group phase second on the points table, the Royals have qualified for the knockout stage.
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