National Asian Cricket Council<\/a> (NACC) to understand the system, and from that day on they\u2019ve given me unbelievable support and helped make the process clearer.<\/p>\n\u201cMy NACC mentor, Yusuf Karolia, has been with me from 2022, supporting me throughout my journey. The NACC even funded half of my Level 3 coaching qualification via the ECB\u2019s Coach Development Bursary Programme.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jaahid Ali, Assistant Coach (Batting), Kent Cricket<\/p>\n
Ali adds: \u201cThe ECB has also offered vital support, giving me a scholarship to coach at the ECB Bunbury Festival in 2024. Being around experienced coaches and talented players was amazing, and lots of pathway coaches saw me coaching there.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter the festival, Mark Allen contacted me and invited me to work with Middlesex U14s. The following year, I joined Kent as a pathway coach looking after the U13s. Then I became the Academy batting coach. And now, for 2026, I\u2019ve just been appointed as Assistant Coach (Batting) for the men\u2019s first XI.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ali\u2019s progression has been accelerated by working as a batting coach with Quetta Gladiators during two PSL campaigns. But resilience and determination have been the key ingredients of his success.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople think the rise has been quick, but it\u2019s come from always learning and staying adaptable,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m now in the second year of my Level 4 qualification and I\u2019m continually developing my understanding of biomechanics, psychology, and the wider skills that shape modern coaching.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coaching, he says, is one of the most transformative experiences you can have. And he doesn\u2019t hesitate to recommend getting involved to anyone who\u2019s even remotely thinking about it.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cI\u2019d tell anyone to give it a go. The ECB runs loads of programmes and coaching courses, and I\u2019ve seen normal people, not professional athletes, go all the way through to Level 4 coaching. The opportunities and support are there. I started with coaching junior tennis-ball cricket and the feeling it gave me was incredible. It\u2019s something you fall in love with very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information on becoming a coach, visit: https:\/\/www.ecb.co.uk\/play\/coaching<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Pakistan A batter Jaahid Ali once made a century against England Lions. But after walking away from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472475,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,1602,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-472474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-text","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}