{"id":262498,"date":"2025-11-14T13:47:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T13:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/262498\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T13:47:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T13:47:16","slug":"watch-zaman-akhters-first-interview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/262498\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch: Zaman Akhter\u2019s First Interview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<img width=\"1000\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Untitled-3.png\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"byline\" style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">\n\tPosted on Thursday 13 November 2025<\/p>\n<p>After signing for Essex Cricket in August, Zaman Akhter sits down and discusses the move from Gloucestershire, his career so far and his experiences in the sport.<\/p>\n<p>Akhter, 26, agreed to a three-year deal in the summer to join Essex Men. So far in his career, \u2018Zum\u2019 has taken multiple five-wicket hauls across different formats, earning him recognition from the England Lions, with whom he toured South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>The right-arm seam bowler played first-class cricket for Oxford UCCE in 2019 and featured in minor counties cricket for Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire before moving to the South Asian Cricket Academy, where he became the sixth graduate to turn professional.<\/p>\n<p>Akhter made his first-class debut for Gloucestershire against Durham in May 2023 and hit the ground running, taking figures of 4-33 in 17 overs in his third County Championship match, against Leicestershire. Later that year, he made his List A debut in August.<\/p>\n<p>A year on, the seam bowler claimed his maiden five-wicket haul in April 2024, taking 5-89 against Yorkshire.<\/p>\n<p>In August 2024, after a series of impressive performances, Zaman was selected for the England Lions squad for a four-day match at Worcester\u2019s New Road against Sri Lanka. He took 5-32 in just 11.5 overs and was called up again that December for the Lions tour of South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the full interview here<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-37423\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hospitalityline.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"40\"  \/><br \/>\nSecure your international tickets!<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/183remain-500x500.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-112977\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>Tickets for England Women\u2019s Vitality IT20\u00a0against India Women at the Ambassador Cruise Line Ground on Thursday 28\u00a0May 2026\u00a0are on general sale and selling fast!<\/p>\n<p>The T20 game will be the opening game\u00a0of the series between the two sides and will also be the first game of India Women\u2019s tour of England.<\/p>\n<p>After an unforgettable summer of international cricket for the England teams, tickets for the fixture next summer have already proved extremely popular in the priority windows so secure your seat today!<\/p>\n<p>Tickets can be bought online or through our Ticket Office on 01245 254010 (phone lines open Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/tickets.essexcricket.org.uk\/selection\/event\/date?productId=10229031219527&amp;gtmStepTracking=true\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-30355 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/buytickets.jpg\" alt=\"buytickets\" width=\"250\" height=\"150\"\/><\/a><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-37423\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/hospitalityline.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"40\"  \/><br \/>\n<a onclick=\"_paq.push([&#039;trackEvent&#039;, &#039;Adverts&#039;, &#039;Click&#039;, &#039;Toomey Southend&#039;]);\" href=\"https:\/\/www.toomeymotorgroup.co.uk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ToomeyMGRotatingBanner.webp.webp\" width=\"600px\"\/><\/a><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"pixel\" style=\"width:0 !important; height:0 !important;\" width=\"0\" height=\"0\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP\/\/\/\/\/\/\/yH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" onload=\"_paq.push(['trackEvent', 'Adverts', 'Impression', 'Toomey Southend']);\" alt=\"\"\/>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 Posted on Thursday 13 November 2025 After signing for Essex Cricket in August, Zaman Akhter sits down&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-262498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-cricket","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}