New Worcestershire Second Eleven Coach Kadeer Ali will have the opportunity to tap into Kevin Sharp’s extensive knowledge of cricket at that level as he settles into his role at New Road.
Sharp, now the County’s Head Of Coach And Player Development, spent three years as Second Eleven Coach at Yorkshire plus one as First Team Coach.
He then enjoyed four seasons as Second Eleven Coach from 2014-2017 at Worcestershire before being moving into the Head Coach slot in 2018 and then his current role.
Sharp has been impressed with the way Kadeer, a former Worcestershire batsman who scored more than 5,000 first class runs in his career, has slotted in since being appointed in November.
He said: “Kaddy has been with us for a few weeks and it feels as if he has been here a long time.
“He has just fitted in so nicely. He is a lovely bloke, very bright, and has got a wonderful way of speaking and communicating with people.
“He is very knowledgable and you can see the lads are gravitating towards him already and that’s a really good sign.
“Myself and him seem to speak the same language when we talk about batting and other aspects of cricket.
“We seem to have a nice understanding on that and we both seem to think similarly.
“For Kaddy, it is a promotion. He is now stepping up to working full-time in the professional game and he was ready for that.
“He won the race from some outstanding candidates and we are very lucky to have him.”
Sharp added: “I’ve had many years in Second Eleven Cricket, with the admin stuff like sorting fixtures out as well, so we’ve already spent time talking about and planning that and I’ll be there to support him
“I suspect once we get to the start of the season, I will probably be with him initially for the first few games to help him bed in and that sort of thing.
“From my own perspective, I really enjoy the ‘cradle to the grave’ part of cricket and he is quite similar
“At this stage of his career, he will get the opportunity to work with the Academy and pathways, which we all do at the club, to see the youngster coming through, to bring them into the second team and help them and, for those who are good enough, move them onto first team cricket.”
