{"id":406631,"date":"2026-02-04T02:13:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T02:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/406631\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T02:13:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T02:13:15","slug":"durham-afghan-leg-spin-bowler-shafiqullah-ghafari-signs-for-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/406631\/","title":{"rendered":"Durham: Afghan leg-spin bowler Shafiqullah Ghafari signs for 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Durham have signed Afghan leg-spin bowler Shafiqullah Ghafari on a one-year contract for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Ghafari played two Championship games for Durham at the end of last season<\/a>, taking five wickets.<\/p>\n

A former Afghanistan Under-19 international, he qualifies as a homegrown player after a successful asylum claim and has played for Richmondshire in the North Yorkshire and South Durham Premier League.<\/p>\n

“The past three years have been some of the hardest of my life, filled with challenges, sacrifices and moments that tested my spirit,” Ghafari, 24, told Durham’s website, external<\/a>. <\/p>\n

“But every struggle made me stronger and reminded me why I love this game so deeply.<\/p>\n

“Today, I’m truly proud and grateful to return to professional cricket. This comeback is not just about me – it’s about growth, perseverance and never giving up on what you love.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, all-rounder Bas de Leede is leaving Durham to concentrate on his international commitments with the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

De Leede joined from Sussex in 2023 and played 16 Championship games across three seasons, hitting a best score of 103 but injury limited him to just two games last summer.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old, who has 99 caps across 50-over and T20 cricket, is part of the Dutch squad for the forthcoming T20 World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Durham have signed Afghan leg-spin bowler Shafiqullah Ghafari on a one-year contract for the 2026 season. Ghafari played…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406632,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-406631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406631","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=406631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}