Ottis Gibson says the indication from Shan Masood is that his Test captaincy role with Pakistan will not have a significant impact on his overseas availability with Yorkshire in 2024.
Yorkshire coach Gibson has spoken to the prolific left-handed batter about his availability.
Masood scored 720 runs in seven LV= Insurance County Championship appearances for the county last season – his first at Headingley.
Across all three competitions in 2023, the 34-year-old scored 1,126 runs in 26 appearances with five fifties, two hundreds and at an average of 40.21.
Masood was appointed Pakistan’s Test captain in November, replacing fellow batter Babar Azam, and he has taken charge of his first series in Australia.
Pakistan lost the first Test in Perth before Christmas, in which Masood scored 30 and two, and they are aiming to fight back in the ongoing Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.
Masood, batting at three, scored 54 as Pakistan closed today’s second day on 194-6 in reply to a first-innings 318.
Picture by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images. Shan Masood bats during today’s second day in Melbourne.
When moving from Derbyshire ahead of last summer, Masood signed a two-year overseas contract at Headingley.
In 2024, Pakistan have scheduled home Test series against the West Indies, Bangladesh and England and an away series in South Africa.
The West Indies series is in early 2024, while the England and South Africa series fall later in the year. Only Bangladesh is scheduled to be played through the English summer, in August.
He is currently not in their limited overs plans.
“I’ve spoken to Shan, and he doesn’t seem to think that the Test captaincy will affect his availability for us too much,” confirmed Gibson.
Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com. Ottis Gibson delivers a team talk last season.
“Pakistan have a short series during our summer, but the rest of their Test Cricket is at the back end of the year.”
“To be captain of your country is a big deal,” continued Gibson. “The fact that he’s Yorkshire captain and now is the captain of Pakistan, to me that is a big deal, and I’m absolutely delighted for him.”
Despite his experience in the game, Masood is still relatively new to captaincy. For example, the ongoing Boxing Day Test is only the 36th first-class match he has skippered a team, with previous experience also coming in Pakistani domestic cricket.
And after confirming that Masood is happy with the workload of combining the Test captaincy with leadership at Headingley – “Yes, for sure,” he said – Gibson believes captaining Yorkshire will be a good thing for the Kuwait-born star.
“I think the domestic captaincy will help him going forward as a Test captain,” he added.
“Here at Yorkshire, he is having to build relationships and find out how to get the best out of our players. He will know the Pakistan players much more, but he is still finding ways to get the best out of them.
“He is developing a captaincy style, so the more he can do it the better.”
Picture by John Heald. Shan Masood, batting against Leicestershire at Grace Road in September.
