Pace bowler Zaman Akhter signs one-year contract extension at Glos
20 August 2024
Pace bowler Zaman Akhter has signed a one-year contract extension at Gloucestershire Cricket through to the end of the 2025 season.
The 25-year-old graduate of the South Asian Cricket Academy (SACA) has been an important part of Mark Alleyne’s red-ball side so far this season, consistent good form that was rewarded with a call-up to the England Lions squad earlier this month. Selected in the XI to face Sri Lanka, Akhter took 5-17 off 12 overs in the first innings at New Road during an impressive first outing in an England shirt.
Having made his professional debut for Gloucestershire in May 2023 in what was a breakout year for him, Zaman has gone on to make 13 first-class and nine white-ball appearances for the Club so far.
Bowling right arm fast-medium, Zaman has 37 wickets across all formats to his name with his best red ball bowling innings of 5/89 coming in Bristol against Yorkshire in the Vitality County Championship earlier this season. It was also against Yorkshire in Scarborough that Zaman hit his professional high-score, a brilliant 70 off just 83 balls. Akhter also has best bowling innings of 3/25 in List A cricket and 2/36 in T20 cricket.
Speaking of extending his contract at Glos, Zaman said: “I’m really excited to be staying at Gloucestershire for another season, we’ve made great strides as a team so far this year and I’m looking forward to building on all that good work for the rest of this season and into next.”
Mark Alleyne, Head Coach at Gloucestershire Cricket, added: "It’s excellent news that Zaman has extended his stay at Gloucestershire. He arrived with good potential and has excelled ever since with some important spells in Championship cricket.
“Zaman will be integral to the team as he looks to extend this contribution across all formats. He is truly a multi-skilled cricketer with exciting pace, a great athlete in the field and also an emerging batter with good ability.”
