Pavel Florin (born 12 February 1979) is a Romanian international cricketer who plays for the national cricket team as a bowler. Florin became well known while playing in the European Cricket League in 2019, when a video showing his bowling action went viral on social media.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1979-02-12) 12 February 1979 (age 43) Cluj, Transylvania, Romania | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Batting | Right-handed | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bowling | Right-arm off break | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National side |
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| T20I debut (cap 1) | 29 August 2019 v Austria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last T20I | 5 September 2021 v Luxembourg | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: Cricinfo, 18 October 2021 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In July 2019 Florin, who took up cricket at 32, bowled the penultimate over for Cluj in an ECL match against Dreux, and conceded 13 runs.[1] The video of the over received widespread attention on social media. Some people mocked Florin's bowling action,[2] others though praised him with former Australian bowler Shane Warne even offering to help Florin in future and England bowler Jofra Archer offering his respect to him.[3][4]
Florin, who found out about his sudden fame over lunch,[5] then did an interview, during which he admitted "Maybe someone says my bowling is not beautiful or not effective, but I don't care, because I love cricket."[6][7] Soon afterwards, he was invited to play cricket in Australia but was denied a visa.[8] The visa denial was soon overturned and he turned out for Surrey Hills Cricket Club.[9] Interest in Florin continued as he took wickets in Australia.[10][11] Florin was then invited to the Lord's Presidents box,[12] from which he rang the Lord's bell.[13]
Florin has also played in 13 Twenty20 Internationals for Romania taking 13 wickets and scoring 24 runs.[14] In June 2021, he was named in Romania's squad for the 2021 Sofia Twenty20.[15][16] Romania won the tournament, and Florin was joint highest wicket-taker alongside his teammate Sami Ullah.[17]
In July 2021 Florin once again made headlines, after taking a wicket in T10 game in the European Cricket League he ran to the commentary box to celebrate before shouting his teams name into a microphone.[18]
Aside from being the president of Cluj Cricket Club, Florin works as a bodyguard.[19]
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