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Wakefield’s highly promising cricket prospect Jawad Akhtar is excited at being given a chance to follow in the footsteps of his boyhood hero Joe Root after signing his first professional contract with Yorkshire County Cricket Club.

The 18-year-old exciting batting all-rounder has signed a two-year maiden professional rookie contract with the county through until the end of 2026.

Akhtar has come through the county’s age-groups at Headingley from the age of 10 and has graduated from Yorkshire’s Academy.

He said: "I’m super excited to be given this opportunity and would like to follow the footsteps of my childhood idol Joe Root.

Jawad Akhtar shows the kind of attacking shot that has brought him success for Wakefield Thornes and Yorkshire Academy.

"I will be working towards making his first team debut in the coming season and make a positive contribution to the team.

"I want to become a regular performer for the first team and hopefully one day get a call-up for England.

"It’s an amazing opportunity and I would like to thank all those that have made this possible.”

Jawad started playing cricket from the age of six and began club cricket at Wakefield Thornes at seven.

Jawad Akhtar with the EPC National Cup he helped win as skipper of Yorkshire U18s.

He was a natural and quickly began to gain recognition, being selected to represent Yorkshire from U10s level onwards.

He excelled with both bat and ball and at 16 he gained his EPP contract, then a year later moved on to the full academy.

While on the EPP contract he scored over 700 runs and took 40 wickets. This was followed by 680 runs and 30 wickets for the academy and more than 400 runs in the Yorkshire seconds with back to back hundreds and three 50s.

Among his achievements was taking the wicket of former England player Samit Patel. Academy manager Tom Craddock made Jawad the academy captain and under his leadership the team reached its first EPC National Cup final.

A more watchful Jawad Akhtar during the 2024 season.

The team were four down for 41 before he played a captain’s innings, putting on 170 with a teammate to help Yorkshire to reach 247. They bowled out Middlesex for 216 to win the U18s ECB National Cup for the first time.

Jawad continued to play for Wakefield Thornes in 2024 and played a big part in them winning the Heavy Woollen Cup final with a match winning bowling spell at the end that changed the direction of the game, taking 3-9 in his last five overs.

Wakefield's exciting cricket prospect Jawad Akhtar aiming to take his chance with Yorkshire