County Championship 2022

Watch: Mohammad Hasnain cleans up county batter with sizzling yorker in first game back after bowling ban

by Wisden Staff July 25, 2022 - 5:45pm 3 minute read

Watch: Mohammad Hasnain marked his County Championship debut with a ball to remember, bowling Derbyshire all-rounder Anuj Dal with a searing yorker.

The 22-year-old Pakistan speedster claimed the last two wickets of Derbyshire’s innings, ensuring Worcestershire maintained their advantage after reducing their opponents to 53-7 early on.

Dillon Pennington, a highly rated English quick, got the hosts off to an excellent start after they had won the toss and elected to bowl, with four wickets in his opening spell leaving Derbyshire 14-5 and sinking.

Leus du Plooy (38) and Dal put together a mini-fightback, before two wickets from Ed Barnard saw Derbyshire fall from 53-5 to 53-7. Barnard struck again to end Derbyshire’s only half-century stand of the innings, with Ben Aitchison joining forces with Dal.

However, with Dal set on 55, Derbyshire would have hoped to extend their first innings up towards 200. Hasnain had other ideas, first bowling Sam Conners and then cleaning up Dal with a yorker that verged on the unplayable. The rapid delivery moved away in the air, beating the right-hander comprehensively and smashing into off and middle stump.

Hasnain, playing his first County Championship game, had just six first-class caps to his name before his Worcestershire bow, and had claimed 10 wickets at 49.20 in his career. He has represented Pakistan in 26 limited-overs internationals and was part of Pakistan’s 2019 Cricket World Cup squad.

His recent career has been set back by doubts around his action, with Hasnain banned from bowling in international cricket in February. After remedial work, he was cleared to bowl again in June, with this marking his first professional game since January. He is set to make his debut in The Hundred this summer, having been picked up as a wildcard by Oval Invincibles.