Kadeer Ali says being part of the Birmingham Phoenix coaching team for The Hundred was “a fantastic experience” which can only enhance his own development but also benefit Worcestershire with the vast chunks of knowledge he picked up.
Worcestershire’s Assistant Head Coach worked alongside Daniel Vettori, Ian Bell and James Franklin – a former team-mate of his at Gloucestershire – during the month-long tournament.
It followed on from Kadeer having two spells working with the England Under-19 squad as batting coach.
Kadeer is now back at Visit Worcestershire New Road and, after helping to oversee the Vitality County Championships win over Kent and Essex, is now preparing for Monday’s encounter with local rivals Warwickshire at Visit Worcestershire New Road (10.30am start).
He said: “It was a fantastic experience. One that I wasn’t really expecting but I got the call a couple of weeks before the tournament.
“I was really excited initially when they asked me and grateful that Worcestershire allowed me to go and be part of it.
“To be part of the competition was superb. So many good players, so many good coaches to work alongside who have been around and done a lot in their coaching career.
“I’ve been to games in the past with the family and felt the atmosphere on game days but to be part of the coaching staff was amazing.
“This experience is only going to help me. It is something I’m quite keen to do, trying to get into different environments and experiences which ultimately is going to help me and I can bring as much as I can back to Worcestershire.
“That’s the main goal, to try and bring some experience back and try and pick as many brains as I can in terms of how coaches work, discussing team strategies, and everything else that comes with it.”
Kadeer added: “Daniel Vettori, Ian Bell and James Franklin were really good and open and shared a lot of thoughts and I really enjoyed working with Ian Bell with the batters.
“We spent a lot of time chatting about batting in general. I picked up and learnt a lot of stuff from him.
“James Franklin was someone I played with at Gloucestershire, so we already had a nice relationship from our playing days.
“I worked closely with them all, picked their brains and saw how they go about things.”
Kadeer also relished having the opportunity to work with his brother Moeen Ali who skippered the Phoenix to the Eliminator stage of the competition after finishing runners-up in the group.
He said: “For me that was one of the highlights. I absolutely loved it. Working with him on his game on practice days, match days, chatting to him about his best position in the team.
“I don’t see a lot of him now because of how busy he is so it was nice to spend some time on the field discussing cricket with him and off the field as well spending time catching up.
“We so nearly made the final. After the first game down at The Oval where we got beat convincingly, we regrouped really well and in the group stages we were fantastic and everyone contributed.
“The Eliminator was a very close game, and one we probably should have won, and to lose that was obviously disappointing.
“For me, some really good team performances and just a shame we didn’t get to the final.”
