Safyaan Sharif


Safyaan Mohammed Sharif is a Scottish cricketer. He is a right-arm fast-medium bowler and a right-handed batsman.

Domestic and T20 franchise career

In May 2018, he was signed by the English side Derbyshire County Cricket Club to play in the 2018 Royal London One-Day Cup and 2018 t20 Blast tournaments. In June 2019, he was selected to play for the Edmonton Royals franchise team in the 2019 Global T20 Canada tournament.
In July 2019, he was selected to play for the Glasgow Giants in the inaugural edition of the Euro T20 Slam cricket tournament. However, the following month the tournament was cancelled.

International career

Sharif made his debut for Scotland in a One Day International against the Netherlands in the 2011-13 Intercontinental Cup One-Day competition in June 2011, taking figures of 4/27. The following month he played two further One Day International's in the tri-nation series against Ireland and Sri Lanka, with both matches played at The Grange, Edinburgh. He later made four List A appearances against English counties in the 2011 Clydesdale Bank 40. In September 2011, Sharif made his first-class debut in the 2011-13 ICC Intercontinental Cup against Namibia at the Wanderers Cricket Ground, Windhoek. Following the match he played in Scotland's two List A matches against Namibia, which formed part of the ICC Intercontinental Cup One-Day competition. During the tour, he also made four Twenty20 appearances against the hosts, taking 8 wickets at an average of 10.37, with best figures of 3/29.
In February 2012, he made his second first-class appearance against the United Arab Emirates in the Intercontinental Cup. He was selected as part of Scotland's squad for the World Twenty20 Qualifier which proceeds their series against the United Arab Emirates.
In March 2018, during the 2018 Cricket World Cup Qualifier match against Zimbabwe at the Queens Sports Club in Bulawayo, Sharif took his first five-wicket haul in ODIs. The match finished as a tie, with Sharif named as the player of the match, with figures of five wickets for 33 runs off 8.4 overs. Following the conclusion of the Cricket World Cup Qualifier tournament, the International Cricket Council named Sharif as the rising star of Scotland's squad.
In September 2019, he was named in Scotland's squad for the 2019 ICC T20 World Cup Qualifier tournament in the United Arab Emirates. He was the leading wicket-taker for Scotland in the tournament, with thirteeen dismissals in seven matches.