Kabir Ali: Yorkshire name ex-England bowler as assistant coach

Kabir Ali played one Test and 14 ODIs for England between 2003 and 2006

Former England and Worcestershire fast bowler Kabir Ali has joined Yorkshire as an assistant coach.

Kabir, 41, who most recently worked as a bowling coach at Warwickshire, will be one of two assistants for the White Rose county along with Alastair Maiden.

He will work with Yorkshire's new head coach Ottis Gibson and the interim managing director of cricket Darren Gough following a major reshuffle.

Kabir played one Test and 14 one-day internationals between 2003 and 2006.

"I am so pleased to be joining the team at Yorkshire and to work alongside Ottis and Darren," he said. "Their vision for the club is so exciting, and there is such potential here for a really bright future."

His only Test for England came at Headingley in 2003 against South Africa. He took five wickets in that game but England lost by 191 runs and he only made white-ball appearances after that.

Yorkshire dismissed 16 members of staff in December including former first-team coach Andrew Gale and ex-director of cricket Martyn Moxon, following the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal.

Now former Worcestershire, Lancashire and Hampshire bowler Kabir joins as part of the new-look coaching team.

Kabir had been working as a bowling consultant at Warwickshire while the Bears sought a replacement for departed coach Graeme Welch.

He has also worked in the Bangladesh and Sri Lanka Premier Leagues and he was also a director of cricket for the South Asian Cricket Academy.

"Kabir is a fantastic addition to the coaching team and was the outstanding candidate to lead on bowling," Gough said.

"Both Ottis and I were particularly taken by Kabir's energy and passion for the game and, following a brilliant playing career, he already has a huge amount of experience for a young coach."

Along with Kabir and Maiden, Yorkshire have also announced that former Lancashire all-rounder Tom Smith will be the second XI coach.

Both Smith and Maiden join for compensation from Leicestershire, where they were assistant/bowling coach and head of academy respectively.

Smith joined Leicestershire in 2018 as second XI coach, before stepping up to his latest role in the build-up to the 2020 season.

Maiden, who will take up his new role on 1 March, joined the Running Foxes at the start of 2020 after four years as batting/assistant coach with England Women.