Yorkshire County Cricket Club is delighted to confirm the appointments of Kabir Ali and Alastair Maiden as assistant coaches, and Tom Smith as Second XI Coach.
Former fast bowler Ali has joined as assistant coach after recently completing a stint as a bowling consultant with Warwickshire and spells coaching in various franchise competitions around the world. This includes as Head Coach of Columbo Kings in the Lanka Premier League in 2020 and as Bowling Coach of the Chattogram Challengers in the BPL 2021.
Yorkshire’s new assistant coach has also worked as Director of Cricket for the South Asian Cricket Academy, a non-profit organisation aiming to tackle the inequalities within the talent development systems in England and Wales.
Ali said: “I am so pleased to be joining the team at Yorkshire and to work alongside Ottis Gibson and Darren Gough. Their vision for the Club is so exciting, and there is such potential here for a really bright future.
“I believe the best way to approach coaching is to keep things simple and let the players enjoy it. I want the team to feel good and drive their games forward, and I’m looking forward to helping them on that journey from day one”.
Maiden joins Yorkshire from Leicestershire where he has been the Head of Academy since 2020. Previous to this role, Maiden was England Women’s Assistant Coach for their 2017 ICC World Cup success and was lead batting coach for the England Women’s Development Programme from 2011 to 2016.
The ECB Level Four Coach will support Gibson by specialising on batting when he arrives at Headingley next month.
Maiden said: “I am very excited to join a club of Yorkshire’s size with so much history and to work with Ottis. It is an absolute honour and something that I didn’t think that I would do in my coaching career.
“Over the past three years, I have been in charge of leading the ECB Level Four Coach Batting Module which has been really good for me to develop my own thoughts on batting.
“To have the opportunity to help the England captain practice is one not many people get, plus the exciting young players. There is so much potential in the current squad and in the future for developing batters”.
Smith also arrives from Leicestershire and will take charge of Yorkshire’s second XI. The former all-rounder has coached as an assistant with the Foxes since 2018 following a successful playing career. After being forced to retire early from playing, Smith has already gained valuable coaching experience with Leicestershire, Lancashire Thunder and the England Women’s team.
Smith said: “I can’t wait to get up there and get cracking. Yorkshire is a massive club. The opportunity to work with Ottis Gibson, Kabir Ali, a number of international players and some of the best domestic players is certainly exciting.
“Cricket as a whole in Yorkshire is strong and there is a good crop of players coming through.
“In the second team environment, it is important to give players a good grounding to go on and play First Class cricket, T20 and 50 over cricket. With the talented youngsters coming through, I am really looking forward to that challenge”.
Darren Gough, Yorkshire’s Interim Managing Director of Cricket said: “Ottis and I are absolutely delighted to announce these exciting coaching appointment.
“Kabir is a fantastic addition to the coaching team and was the outstanding candidate to lead on bowling. 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.
“Alastair is a vastly experienced coach having worked with Durham, England’s Women and Leicestershire. Alastair has great experience leading on batting and will strike a wonderful balance with Kabir.
“Tom is another coach who had a brilliant playing career, but one that was unfortunately cut short. Since retiring from the game, Tom has become an outstanding coach in his own right and will impart great technical knowledge and experience on our young players.
“It’s great to see how many talented coaches are keen to join what we are doing here at Yorkshire and I’m thrilled with the calibre of talent we are assembling as we shape our backroom staff ahead of the new season”.
