Jawad Akhtar is determined not to rest on his laurels after securing his maiden professional contract with Yorkshire.
The exciting all-rounder from Wakefield Thornes, soon to be 19, last month signed a two-year rookie contract at Headingley, joining fellow Academy stars Noah Kelly and Alex Wade in making the step up to the seniors.
Make no mistake, this is a huge moment in Akhtar’s life, never mind his career: “It’s always been a goal of mine to play for Yorkshire,” he said.
“It’s what I’ve worked for since I started cricket at nine-years-old, and it’s an honour.”
But here is a player who has no intention of sitting back and reflecting on this achievement. He wants more, and his thirst for progression is clear.
Akhtar is currently in Pakistan, spending the first half of his winter playing domestic cricket in Islamabad, the city where his family originates from.
He will be playing all formats through until the end of January, when he will return to Headingley to step up preparations for the 2025 summer, when he hopes to make his debut in Yorkshire’s first team.
Picture by YCCC. Jawad Akhtar bats in Yorkshire colours during the summer just gone.
Akhtar is a batting all-rounder but one who bowls very handy spin. That side of his game is more developed in white ball cricket than red at present, and it is something the Under 18s County Cup winning captain has designs on developing.
“It’s about adding more strings to my bow,” he said when asked what his focus will be whilst in Pakistan. “I’ve thought about leg-spin as well as off-spin. The way the game’s moving forwards, that’s a big thing. I’ll see how it goes.
“It’s about me playing in different conditions, training hard and playing with and against some very good players.
“I spoke to Gavin Hamilton (Yorkshire’s new general manager of cricket) before I went, and he said, ‘Go out there, play and enjoy yourself’.”
Akhtar is Pontefract-born but has lived in Wakefield his entire life. He comes from a cricket-mad family: “My dad and my uncles have played a lot of cricket,” he said, before paying tribute to his home club and also Yorkshire’s Academy staff for their contributions to his progress.
“Thornes are a very good club with a good junior set-up. The coaches, the chairman, everyone, they’ve helped me a lot, and I’m very grateful.
“A big thank you also to all the Academy coaching staff at Yorkshire, the physios and strength and conditioning coaches. They’ve helped us all out.”
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Yorkshire’s Academy squad 2024. Jawad Akhtar is bottom row, second from left.
When asked to describe himself as a player, he said: “I would say I’m a very adaptable player.
“With the white ball, I feel like I can be electric when it comes to batting.
“With my bowling, I feel like I’m strongest in the white ball.
“It’s just about adapting to the different conditions and such.”
Not surprisingly, Akhtar has had an impressive season, highlighted by back-to-back second-team Championship centuries last month in away matches against Lancashire at Southport and Middlesex at Merchant Taylors’ School.
He hit 111 from number five in the former and then 106 in the latter.
And when asked about Akhtar towards the end of the summer, second-team coach Tom Smith highlighted an early-season 48 against Nottinghamshire at Lady Bay as another knock of huge significance.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Yorkshire second-team coach Tom Smith has been delighted with Jawad’s progression.
It came in only Akhtar’s second four-day game for the second team and was compiled from a tricky position in the innings (117-5) against an attack including experienced heads such as Luke Fletcher and Liam Patterson-White.
“110 percent, that was a very important innings for me,” he said.
“It was a good attack, but I don’t look too much into that. It’s just a red or a white ball. I try to keep it simple. It was a good challenge and gave me a lot of confidence.
“It’s been good in the second team this year, playing with the likes of Dawid Malan, Joe Root and Shan Masood. You can learn a lot from them.”
And, of course, if Akhtar can continue scoring runs against Lancashire, then he will become hugely popular with the Yorkshire faithful.
He chuckled: “It’s always a good game against Lancs, and to score runs is great!
“I had a tough start early on this summer, but the second half was really good.
Picture by YCCC. Yorkshire’s Academy celebrate their U18s County Cup success at Kibworth today, with Jawad Akhtar holding the trophy.
“We obviously won the Under 18s One-Day Cup with the Academy, which I captained in as well, and then I went on a run of a few fifties before the two back-to-back hundreds at the end. That was good.”
At the start of last month, the Academy beat Middlesex in the One-Day Cup final at Kibworth in Leicestershire, with Akhtar to the fore.
After Yorkshire fell to 50-4 inside 11 overs, Akhtar united with centurion Jack Redshaw to recover things to 217-4 en-route to a winning total of 247-8 from 50 overs.
He finished with 69, the archetypal captain’s knock, and then bowled 10 overs of his off-spin at a cost of just 42 as Middlesex were bowled out for 211.
“I spoke to Tom Craddock (Academy lead coach) at the start of the year and said, ‘If there’s any opportunity to captain, I’d like to take it’,” Akhtar said.
“He put his trust in me in the County Cup, and thankfully it worked out.
“It’s something I’d like to do at some point. I feel like I’m in the game more as a captain, and I really enjoy it.”
Picture by Stu Forster/Getty Images. Joe Root is Akhtar’s cricketing hero.
And when asked to set out a perfect 2025, he added: “I’d love to go and make my first-team debut. Whichever format that is, I don’t mind.
“To do that, I need to score runs and take wickets. They’re your currency. If I do that, I’ll be knocking on the door.”
