Qayyum to retire from cricket

Left-arm spinner Imran Qayyum has made the difficult decision to retire from all forms of cricket due to a shoulder injury.

The 27-year-old joined Kent in 2014, and has gone on to make 82 appearances for Kent across all formats across his seven-year professional career. He made his first-class debut for Kent against Northamptonshire in May 2016.

A specialist in white-ball bowling, most notedly in T20 cricket, Qayyum has taken 43 wickets in the shortest form of the county game for Kent at an average of 28.12.

His best figures of 5/21 came against Somerset at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence in Kent Spitfires’ first home match of the 2019 Vitality Blast, in front of a capacity crowd and Sky Sports cameras.

He also took 4/45 against a strong touring Pakistan one-day side at The County Ground, Beckenham in April 2019.

On retiring from the game, Qayyum said: “It’s disappointing that my career has been cut short, but I can look back with pride on the contributions I’ve made as a Kent player. I’ve enjoyed every minute of playing for Kent, and I’ll always be a Spitfire.

“I’d like to thank my teammates, coaches, support staff and especially Kent’s Members and supporters for all of their support during my time as a professional cricketer and I’ll have nothing but good memories.

“I’m very grateful of the opportunity that Kent Cricket gave me to live my childhood dream. I wish the very best of luck to everyone at the Club.”

Kent’s Director of Cricket, Paul Downton, said: “I’d like to thank ‘Immy’ for all of his contributions made in a Kent shirt over the past seven seasons.

“He became a mainstay in our T20 side over the past couple of seasons and it’s really unfortunate that his career has been cut short in this manner. We wish Imran all the very best for the future and he will always be welcome at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence.”