English County side Kent sign Bangladesh-born pacer for remainder of season
Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, but with UK residency, Arafat has taken 17 wickets for Kent Second XI, with best figures of four for 81 against Hampshire in the Second XI Championship last week. He is originally from Cumilla.
26-year-old medium fast bowler Arafat Bhuiyan is set to become the third English cricketer of Bangladeshi descent after Jahid Ahmed and Robin Das to play County cricket. On Wednesday, Kent Cricket announced the signing of Arafat for the remainder of the 2023 season.
Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, but with UK residency, Arafat has taken 17 wickets for Kent Second XI, with best figures of four for 81 against Hampshire in the Second XI Championship last week. He is originally from Cumilla.
He currently plays club cricket in the Kent Premier League. He has also featured for Surrey, Essex & Derbyshire's Second XIs in the past six years, as well as playing stints for the MCC's Young Cricketers side in 2019, & the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA) this year. He moved to Birmingham this Winter be part of SACA's winter training programme.
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"I'm over the moon to have signed for Kent. It's a dream come true to become a professional cricketer and I feel all my hard work has paid off," he said.
"I'm grateful to Kent, especially Second XI Coach Mark Dekker, for the faith they have shown in me, and hope I can perform well if given the opportunity.
"I would also like to thank Dr. Tom Brown from SACA for giving me the opportunity to train and for accommodating me during the Winter in Birmingham. I can't speak highly enough about the amount of work he is putting into this programme."
