One of the stars of the hit TV show Andrew Flintoff’s Field of Dreams, the Afghan refugee Adnan Miakhel, has taken another step towards a career in professional cricket by making his debut for Lancashire’s second team.
Miakhel appeared in the first two series of the BBC show that saw England legend “Freddie” Flintoff return to his home town of Preston in Lancashire to build a team around young boys who had little or no previous exposure to cricket.
Miakhel was an instant hit on the show, having travelled from Afghanistan to the UK as a 15-year-old child who could not read, write or speak English. He was housed in foster care but had a flair for cricket as a left-arm quick bowler and left-handed batsman. Having been granted asylum in the UK, he is now a student studying for his A-Levels on a scholarship at Rossall School, a boarding school near Blackpool, where he has been selected as a cricket captain his season.
Last summer Miakhel represented Lancashire’s Under-18 team and has now graduated to the club’s second XI. Facing a Yorkshire team that featured a number of County Championship players such as Finlay Bean and Matt Milnes, Miakhel chipped in with both bat and ball at Northern CC in Liverpool. From No 10, he made 25 not out in Lancashire’s first innings of 159, before picking up the wicket of Jonny Tattersall, caught behind down the legside, in his second over with the ball.
Flintoff’s own sons, 19-year-old Corey and 17-year-old Rocky, are both on the staff of professional cricket clubs, Kent and Lancashire respectively.
The first series of Field of Dreams aired before Flintoff’s awful car crash while working on another BBC show, Top Gear. But since that accident he has re-engaged with cricket and is now the head coach of England Lions, the national team’s second string, and the Hundred franchise Northern Superchargers.
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