Cricket World Cup 2019: Meet the man who captained Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler looking for a way back

The ECB will hope that any previously casual followers of cricket will soon be able to pick Ben Stokes and Joe Root out of a line-up at the conclusion of a successful World Cup campaign on home soil.

Whatever happens between now and July 14, though, it’s unlikely that many would recognise the name or face of Azeem Rafiq.

Yet there was a time when the Karachi-born Yorkshireman was seen as being the most gilded cricketer of a generation with a distinctly golden hue.

The England under-19 squad at the 2010 World Cup wasn’t massively different to the one that has formed the spine of the side that begins their campaign against South Africa at the Oval on Thursday.

It contained the likes of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes, Joe Root and James Vince. And Rafiq was the man charged with the task of captaining the side.

Now, though, as Stokes, Root, Buttler and Vince prepare for World Cup battle, Rafiq is adjusting to life outside of the county game, for the time being at least.

The Independent catches up with the 28-year-old during Ramadan, the 2019 timing of which has resulted in it being as much a test of mental fortitude as a demonstration of faith as the hours of daylight lengthen.

Rafiq has needed both in the past 12 months, after the tragic loss of his stillborn son in May 2018 and his release from Yorkshire at the end of the season.

Having spent the winter in Pakistan, playing in the country’s First Class competition for Sur Southern Gas Corporation, Rafiq is now playing Minor Counties cricket for Lincolnshire.

It’s a fair way removed from the World Cup but Rafiq will be following the events of the next six weeks as closely as possible.

“It is mixed emotions,” he says. “I’m absolutely chuffed to bits for the lads because Stokesy, Rooty, Vincey and Jos are top lads. Stokesy took the time out to drop me a message at the end of last season and we still speak to each other, we always have done.

“I’m so excited for them, really, really excited for them. But it’s not just the Ashes or the World Cup, every time I see them play for England it gives you that fire – and that tells me that I still want to play.

“The minute you lose that when you watch them and don’t feel that you want to be there, I think that’s when you stop. It’s a very good indication, whether it was that game against Ireland or the Pakistan matches, all the time I was thinking ‘I want to be there.’

“I hope England win the World Cup and the Ashes because it would be a really massive boost for cricket in this country.

open image in gallery

Rafiq’s side under-performed at the under-19 version of the event in 2010 in New Zealand. Despite breezing through the group stage, winning three from three, with Stokes scoring a 100 off just 80 balls against India in the last match of qualification.

They then lost to West Indies in the quarter-finals, with Jason Holder – the captain of the Caribbean outfit this summer – taking five wickets in an England run chase that fell 18 runs short.

“We should have won that tournament,” says Rafiq. “But that can happen in a competition like the World Cup. You just have to be on the ball for every minute of every match.”

Australia would eventually lift the title, with a side captained by Mitch Marsh and a bowling attack led by Josh Hazlewood. With the exception of Kane Richardson, no other member of that team has gone on to wear the famous Green and Gold at the highest level.

All of which demonstrates that being a prodigious teenager is no guarantee of future success. Something that Rafiq knows all too well having made his Yorkshire debut at the age of just 18 back in 2009. In 2012 he became the first player of Asian origin to captain the county.

open image in gallery

Now he finds himself attempting to battle his way into the county game, probably in T20 cricket in the original instance. He does, after all, already boast over 100 wickets in the format for Yorkshire.

“I’m pretty chilled about it,” he says. “I’m going to be doing a little bit of the coaching for Sachin Tendulkar and Middlesex’s Global Academy’. I’m playing club cricket, some Minor Counties stuff but in the short-term at least, cricket isn’t my first priority.

“I’m pretty chilled about how it could pan out but I’m still enjoying my cricket. And still playing well.”

Despite having so many his former team-mates in an England side that go into the World Cup as heavy favourites, it’s another player that has captured his imagination over the past 12 months.

“Tom Curran – I saw him when I was last out of the game (following an initial release from Yorkshire in 2014) when he was out with the Lions in Dubai,” he says. “I was coaching out there and he was in the net next to me.

“I just couldn’t believe how skilful he was. Now you can see it. Put him under the pump and he thinks on his feet and changes it up. He has nailed that skill.”

If the rest of the England side nail theirs then a 44-year wait for World Cup success could soon be at an end. After falling short in 2010, no-one would be happier than Rafiq.