Ghazanfar Out, Moqim In For The Falcons

In an official statement made earlier today, the club confirmed that Ghazanfar would no longer be able to join Derbyshire Falcons as planned because “…the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) have withdrawn the player’s availability to manage his workload and as such, his stint with Derbyshire has been cancelled.”

Ghazanfar featured prominently for the Falcons in the Vitality Blast last year and was the club’s leading wicket-taker in the competition with 16. While the news is undoubtedly a big blow for the team, Mickey Arthur has acted fast to ensure that a high-quality international replacement has been sorted.

Moqim was initially meant to play for the Falcons for the first half of the club’s Vitality Blast group stage, before no longer being made available and was replaced by Pakistan international seamer Akif Javed. However, this latest announcement now means that Moqim will play alongside Javed for the remainder of the T20 competition.

Moqim’s left-handed wrist spin bowling has won plenty of plaudits at international level for his nation. At the time of writing, the 24 year-old has made 19 T20 international appearances for Pakistan and has taken 27 wickets with a very impressive bowling average of 14.74.

There can be no doubt that Moqim is a highly talented player that has plenty to offer Derbyshire Falcons at this critical stage of the T20 campaign. It will be fascinating to see how he gets on.

Derbyshire Falcons are next in action on Sunday when they take on Yorkshire at Queen’s Park in the North Group of the Vitality Blast. As ever, this fixture is a highly-anticipated clash which marks the end of this year's Chesterfield Festival of Cricket. The match has already been confirmed as sold out, as Mickey Arthur’s side aim to extend their remarkable T20 winning run over the white rose county at this beloved and special venue.