
18-year-old Ajmal Shahzad made history when he became the first British-born Asian cricketer to play for Yorkshire. The teenage seamer opened the bowling for his native county in yesterday8217;s national league match against Worcestershire at Headingley but he remained wicketless with figures of 0-35 from six overs as Yorkshire went down to a 39-run defeat.
The only other Asian cricketers to play for Yorkshire have been Indian internationals Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh.
8220;I8217;m chuffed to bits,8221; said Shahzad. 8220;It was just a great moment for me going out and playing in front of this crowd at Headingley. Now I want to keep performing and do it again. There8217;s plenty of Asians coming through now and I8217;m just happy that I8217;m one of them. I think more will follow.8221;
8220;They will see that the theory Yorkshire don8217;t let Asians through isn8217;t true. I believe they will work harder now to get their chance and think, 8216;if he can do it, why not me?8217;,8221; Shahzad said.