Usman AFZAAL 1977-

	Player number 422 (f-c debut for Northamptonshire – 16 April 2004) Also List A #140 (debut 25 April 2004) and T20 #14 (debut 2 July 2004)
Birthplace	Rawalpindi, Pakistan
	County Cap 2005
First-Class	59 matches, 4,437 runs @ 49.30; 13 wickets @ 59.30; 27 catches
List A	60 matches, 2,032 runs @ 39.07; 6 wickets @ 22.23; 13 catches
Twenty20	27 matches, 446 runs @ 23.47; 2 wickets @ 33.00; 5 catches

Director of Cricket Kepler Wessels’ need for experienced batsmen to replace Australians Mike Hussey and Phil Jaques in 2004 brought Usman Afzaal to Wantage Road from Nottinghamshire. Already a Test player (with three appearances for England in the 2001 Ashes series, making 54 in the final game at The Oval against Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Brett Lee and Shane Warne) he enjoyed an outstanding first season at the club, hitting four Championship centuries in a tally of 1,365 first-class runs – although his efforts couldn’t save the side from immediate relegation back to Division Two. The following summer he went one better with five hundreds – including a remarkable sequence of four in as many matches at the back end of the campaign, signing off with 157 in an innings victory at home to Yorkshire - to earn his Northamptonshire cap. He remained a key batsman at the top of the County’s order in 2006, but Wessels departed in controversial circumstances midway through the season and Afzaal found his face fitted less well with the new coaching regime under David Capel. He dropped out of the side midway through the 2007 season and left to join Surrey, where he finished his first-class career three years later. In 2024 he returned to Northampton in England colours at the World Championship of Legends – although he didn’t get a chance to bat - and as an ECB Level Four coach has worked extensively with International Cricket Masters in Nottingham, mentoring young players.