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Pakistani cricket captain to join English club

(Agencies)
Updated: 2011-02-22 13:51

Pakistan's captain Shahid Afridi catches a ball during a training session before their first cricket test match against Australia at Lord's cricket ground in London in this July 12, 2010 file photo. [Photo/Agencies]

ISLAMABAD - Big-hitting Pakistani cricket team captain Shahid Afridi will join English Twenty20 cricket champions club Hampshire for their 2011 season, local media reports said on Tuesday.

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According to the Daily Times, the explosive all-rounder, captaining his side at the ongoing cricket World Cup, will arrive at the English club in May this year and will participate in the Friends Provident T20 cricket championship.

Afridi, 30, had been due to join the Hampshire Royals in 2010 but later on he refused due to his tight schedule with the national team of Pakistan.

"I was disappointed not to join Hampshire last season. It would have been fantastic to have been a part of the team that made history by winning the T20 trophy on home soil," said Afridi.

Afridi, one of the most devastating batsmen in world cricket, made his one-day debut for Pakistan at the age of 16 and scored the world's fastest one-day internationals (ODIs) hundred in his maiden innings, reaching 100 runs off only 37 balls.

He has made 6,583 runs in 312 ODIs and 1,716 runs in 27 Tests. He was named player of the tournament in the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2007 and was part of the Pakistan side that won the 2009 T20 world cup in England.