Apr 04 2020

Wasim Khan played Grade Cricket for Western Suburbs District Cricket Club in Sydney as a 19 year old.

He went on to play 58 first class games for Derbyshire, Sussex and Warwickshire in England scoring 2,835 runs at an average of 30.15. He scored 5 centuries and 17 half centuries and his highest score was 181.

Upon retirement from playing Wasim moved into the administration and promotion of the game and where he continues to shine.

He was the CEO of Leicestershire County Cricket Club and was awarded an MBE for Services to Cricket through his work with Chance to Shine Programs.

He sat on platforms such as Equality and Human rights Commission Sports Groups, The Prince Trust Cricket Group and the Board of Sport England.

Wasim Khan is now the CEO of Pakistan Cricket.

Let’s find out more about Wasim cricketing journey, the Chance to Shine Program and his primary objectives for Cricket in Pakistan.





Welcome Wasim,

Firstly, where and what year were you born?

I was born in Birmingham in the UK in 1971.

Do you remember your first ever game of cricket?

I use to play with mates on our street in inner city Birmingham growing up. My first competitive game was for my school at the age of 9; I still remember the gloves that we use to wear with green rubber spikes on them and you only used a front pad! Think I got around 20 batting at 6. I also remember a huge swollen bruise on the shin on my back leg after the ball missed my front pad!

Where did you play your junior cricket?

Played my junior cricket at a Birmingham League side called Smethwick. Peter Bolland, my P.E teacher use to pick me up and drop me off every week.

Help us understand how a young cricketer can progress through the ranks in the U. K before their selected for a County squad. Did most young players play through their school or is it similar to Australia where there’s Grade cricket below Country standard?

In England, you will start at your club and you’ll be put forward for trials for County U11’s level. In my case I was sent for Warwickshire U13’s trials and got in. I then played County U14’s, U15’s, U16’s and U19’s. In 1990, when I was 19, I scored 4 hundreds in 5 innings for Warwickshire U19’s. I also got asked to play for the Warwickshire 2nd XI against Northamptonshire and I scored 171* in that game. Immediately after, I got offered a 2 year contract with Warwickshire County Cricket Club. In the 1990 season I scored 15 hundreds across all cricket I played. I also represented England U19s that year.

Which clubs and counties have you played for?

I played for Warwickshire from 1990-97, Sussex from 1998-2000 and then Derbyshire in 2001. In 1995 at Warwickshire, I opened the batting with Nick Knight in the double winning side, averaging 49. During my time at Warwickshire, our overseas players were Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and Brian Lara.

How old were you when you first played senior cricket?

I was 13 when I played third X1 for Smethwick’s senior side. In those days I had a bat that was heavier than me. I had the body of Mowgli from Jungle Book and the bat weighed around 2:8. Not sure I got many off the square.

What age were you when you first joined Warwickshire as a County squad player?

19

You played for Western Suburbs in the Sydney Grade Competition in 1990/91 – how did you end up playing for Wests?

Brad McNamara (the infamous Buzzard) played for Smethwick in 1988 and so I got in touch with him in 1990 asking if he could set me up in Sydney. I still remember when Buzzard turned up at Smethwick to play his first game. He batted at 4 and bowled second change. At the end of the game and bearing in mind he only turned up at the club the day before, he turned around to the captain and said “I’m your best f****** player, so as of today, I open the batting and open the bowling”. I think it stunned a few trim and proper Englishman in the dressing room!!

Do you remember what your Wests First grade cap number is and who did you make your debut against?

My Wests cap number is 539. When I arrived I played third grade against Balmain to start with, think I got 60 in my first game. I made my 1st Grade debut v Hawkesbury on 9th March 1991 and played the last few games.

How did you find playing Grade Cricket in Sydney, did it help your game and what was it about the experience that helped you when you return to Warwickshire?

Firstly, having been born and brought up in a fairly religious household, I had never been abroad longer than 2 weeks and that had always been to Pakistan. So, arriving in Sydney, opened my eyes; I can’t remember much about the cricket but I remember Peter Burkhart taking me out every night of the week! I would put my average first year of playing grade cricket in Oz down to it being a ‘cultural experience’.

The good thing was that I didn’t and don’t drink, so the guys always respected that aspect. I made a great Uber driver on the nights out.

Looking back, I should have been more disciplined and been more serious about my cricket when I went to Wests. Reflecting back it was personally disappointing that I didn’t do myself justice when I was there. It was tough cricket and you needed to prepare properly and I don’t think I did that. It was everything that I had heard; it was highly competitive and tough on the field.

I went on and played for North Perth for the next 3 seasons and also had two seasons in Melbourne. I also had a season in Wellington I NZ in 1996/97. I definitely approached my cricket in more of a disciplined and professional way.

On the plus side, my friendships from my time at Wests remain the strongest as a result of my eye opening experiences. I still stay in touch with Burks, Snake (Jason Penrose), Wayne Levy, Jason Fuller and Shane Hadley, whenever I get the chance on whatsapp and always make sure I see the guys when I get over. I’m also good mates with Stuart MacGill who now lives in Sydney, but with whom I played with at North Perth.

When did you make your First Class debut for Warwickshire?

My first class debut was against Surrey in 1995 when I was 24. I scored 19 and 25 in my first game. In my second game I played against Wasim Akram, scoring 38 and 78; followed by playing against Somerset who had Mushtaq Ahmed – I got 89 and 23 in that game. So, my first few innings in first class cricket went pretty well.

You played 58 first class games for Warwickshire, Sussex and Derbyshire, what was your highest score?

My highest score was 181 v Hampshire in 1995

Who were the best three batsman you played against in first class cricket?

In no particular order:

1. Graham Gooch - always consistent and even at the backend of his career, I always saw him work so hard on his game

2. Mark Ramprakash – best compiler of runs in first class cricket I played against.

3. Graeme Hick – hugely destructive on his day and scored heavily and quickly when he got in.

All three have first class records you can’t argue with.

Who were the best three bowlers you came up against in first class cricket?

1. Wasim Akram. Back in 1995 he was at his peak; you never quite knew what was coming next.

2. Courtney Walsh: Only played against him once and scored 60 - had to get that in : -) every ball was going through waist to throat high. He was relentless and it was hard to pick his bumper as there was wasn’t a great difference between his heavy length and trying to knock your head off!

3. Waqar Younis. Use to swing it at extreme pace and you always wondered when the toe crusher was coming. His run up was phenomenal and was not a nice sight to see coming in at you.

You were the first British Born Muslim to play first class cricket in the U.K, what did that mean to you and your family?

Immensely proud. Incredible that within a 5 kilometer radius of where I grew up in inner city Birmingham, we went on to produce 17 professional cricketers in the space of 20 years.

What’s been your most memorable moment in cricket?

Two moments in my debut season: Winning the championship in 1995 and scoring 181, my first, 1st class hundred.

One of the funniest moments in cricket was when my opening partner and I at Warwickshire in 1996 went out to bat at the Oval against Surrey in the second innings of a game. We had both got a duck in the first innings and as we approached the wicket for the second innings a ‘pear’ had been left on the popping crease at both ends. Alec Stewart was keeping, Graham Thorpe and Mark Butcher were the slippers and all you heard were loud sniggers. Jason Ratcliffe, an old Warwickshire team mate who now played for Surrey had thought it would be quite funny to do it. Not sure how funny it would have been had I bagged a pair; thankfully I didn’t.

Who’s been the biggest influence in your cricket career?

I would say my PE teacher Peter Bolland. He spotted me in the playground and invested a lot of time and effort in me. Something I’ll never forget.

Who was the funniest cricketing team mate?

There were a few. I use to change next to Michael Bevan at Sussex and so we use to have some interesting chats! Also, Allan Donald, he was a funny guy in the dressing room and loved a laugh. Graeme Welch at Warwickshire was a funny guy too. A practical joker and you never knew what was coming next – like snipping the end of your socks, deep heat in your jocks, to name but a few things.

Who is your favourite all time cricketer?

Wasim Akram

What was the best win you were involved in?

Winning by an innings against Kent to win the championship. Truly memorable day.

If you’re in the middle seat of the middle row of Qantas QF1flight to Sydney which of your former team mates would you choose to on your left and right?

Michael Bell (left arm quickie who played for Warwickshire with me and a close mate) and Graeme Welch. Both guys that I started with at Warwickshire.

Did you have any cricketing superstitions?

Always walked onto the field with my right foot first.

What’s the best advice you ever received?

‘Play freely, play your game and do it your way’. Sadly, I put too much pressure on myself and didn’t carry that advice with me enough during my career.

The best non-cricketing advice I got as a 19 year old was from Brad Wilson, my former Wests team mate who said “Was mate, as long as you don’t drink, you’ll always remain a diamond cause drivers on a night out are always hard to come by”.

Thanks Willows, I’ve always kept that close to my heart : -)

After retiring, you’ve become a very prominent figure in the World of Cricket and Sport, how and why you got you get involved in the administration side of things?

When I finished playing in 2001, I set up a coaching school in Birmingham. I then worked for a year for the Professional Cricketers Association as a community development manager and it went from there.

The Chance to Shine Scheme you developed, can you tell us a little more about it and the thought process behind it?

Chance to Shine was set up to take cricket back into state schools in England. It was the brainchild of Lord Mervyn King, former Governor of the Bank of England who loved his cricket and more importantly felt competitive team sport taught you so much about yourself and life. Out of the blue I got a call from him one day asking if he could discuss this concept. He said that as I was a former inner city boy who played state school cricket and so I knew how cricket could change lives.

We set a target of taking sustainable cricket into 7,000 state schools (third of schools in England & Wales), by raising 50 million pounds in 10 years. By the time I left after 9 years, we had raised 55 million pounds, had reached 2.5 million kids across 9,000 state schools. Of the 2.5m kids, 1m were girls who had never played the game before. We linked 2,000 cricket clubs across 39 counties to the 9,000 schools, coaches from those club delivered coaching and competition programs into their local cluster of schools. I became CEO 4 years into the program.

On the back of Chance to Shine I was awarded an MBE for services to cricket. I’ll always be thankful to Mervyn King for backing me and developing me as a leader. He also encouraged me to do my MBA at Warwick Business School which I did in 2013.

Click to find out more about Chance to Shine

You’re now the CEO of Pakistan Cricket, a big and important position. Do you mind if we ask, what does success look like for Cricket in Pakistan and what do you hope to achieve by 2022?

When I came into this role in Feb 2019, I knew there would be a lot of pressure. In a nation of 220 million people only cricket matters. I knew I had to deliver on a few critical areas, namely:

- get Test cricket back into Pakistan

- restructure domestic cricket (we’ve now reduced the first class teams from 16 to 6)

- Bring the whole of the HBL PSL back to Pakistan from the UAE.

Thankfully all three have been successfully delivered over the last 12 months.

Looking ahead, securing ICC tournaments during the next right cycle from 2023-2031 is important. Our submissions will go in in the next 2-3 months for various events.

We have evidenced that we can now safely deliver cricket again. Also, having England and Australia tour here in the next 18 months is a goal. All things are on track for that. We have also put together a 5-year strategic plan for PCB which was important and will be launching that in a month or so.

What advice would you offer a young 18 year old who has the ambition of playing test cricket?

Believe in yourself and take responsibility for yourself

What are your hobbies?

Don’t get much time these days, but try and run 4-5 times a week, which is my get away and relaxation from the daily stresses.

Are there any lessons from your time in cricket that you take into work or life in general?

Yes. Back your gut instincts. Don’t compromise on hard work and work with your team mates around you.











