The Lashings World XI, an English village cricket club, on Friday volunteered to help Pakistan wicketkeeper Zulqarnain Haider by extending an open invitation to the cricketer to join the club for the 2011 season.
“We’d love to have him in the team. We’ve been trying to contact him, via text, phone and e-mail and our door is always open to him. We believe Zulqarnain would feel at home with us,” Lashings chairman David Folb said on the club’s Website.
Haider, who retired from international cricket after making his debut just three months ago, is seeking political asylum in U.K. after fleeing from the Pakistan team hotel in Dubai earlier this week on receiving death threats from match-fixers.
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The club has some other international cricketers like West Indies’ Richie Richardson, Graeme Hick of England and Pakistan’s Mohammad Akram and Azhar Mahmood, travels across the country and play exhibition matches for charity.
The club known for offering helping hand to the players with off-field issues, has earlier recruited another former Pakistani wicketkeeper Rashid Latif, who also refused to indulge in match-fixing, and Zimbabwean player Henry Olonga, who pretested against the political regime of Robert Mugabe.
“At Lashings we have a long and proud tradition of offering help to those in need,” Folb said.
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Olonga, who openly criticised the political establishment against the “death of democracy” in Zimbabwe by wearing a black armband during 2003 cricket World Cup match, still plays for Lashings.
“During and after the 2003 World Cup, Henry Olonga faced the very serious threat of assassination if he’d stayed in Zimbabwe and he’s been with us ever since.
“Rashid Latif is another member of the Lashings family and he was treated as a pariah by certain people because he stood up for what he believed was right and said no to match-mixing,” said Folb.