Kassem Ibadulla

Kassem Ben Khalid Ibadulla (born 13 October 1964) is an English-born former New Zealand professional cricketer. He was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm off break. He was born at Birmingham in England in 1964.

Ibadulla is the son of Test cricketer Billy Ibadulla and his German wife, Gertrude.^[1] He moved to New Zealand with his father in 1976.^[2] He played for Otago at Under-19 level,^[3] before making his first-class debut for the team against Central Districts in the 1982/83 Shell Trophy. Ibadulla initially played infrequently for Otago, making just five appearances between 1983 and 1986.^[4] He played in England in 1985 for Cheshire, making eight appearances in that seasons Minor Counties Championship.^[5]

In 1987 he joined English county Gloucestershire, making his first-class debut for the county against a Rest of the World XI. In that same season he also made his List A debut against Nottinghamshire in the Refuge Assurance League. He played for Gloucestershire from 1987 to 1989, making nine first-class and four List A appearances.^[4][6] In his nine first-class appearances for the county, he scored 269 runs at an average of 24.45, with a high score of 77.^[7] This score, which was his only first-class half century for Gloucestershire, came against Kent in the 1988 County Championship.^[8] He took 7 wickets with the ball, at a bowling average of 42.71, with best figures of 3/37.^[9]

Ibadulla continued to play for Otago during this period, toward the end of his career he became a more regular feature in the Otago side. He went on to make eighteen further first-class appearances for the team, the last of which came against Central Districts in the 1990/91 Shell Trophy.^[4] He made a total of twenty-two first-class appearances for Otago, scoring 862 runs at an average of 27.80, with a high score of 107.^[7] This score, one of two centuries he made for Otago, came against Central Districts in 1988.^[10] With the ball, he took 22 wickets at an average of 45.04, with best figures of 5/22.^[9] His only five-wicket haul came against Canterbury in his second match for Otago in the 1982/83 Shell Trophy.^[11] He made his first List A appearance for Otago in 1987 when Queensland toured New Zealand. He made fourteen further List A appearances for the team, the last of which came against Central Districts in the 1990/91 Shell Cup.^[6] He scored 155 runs in his fifteen matches, which came at an average of 11.92, with a high score of 29.^[12] With the ball, he took 5 wickets at an average of 39.40, with best figures of 3/32.^[13]