First SACA coaching graduate gets deal as Shaftab Khalid joins Warwickshire

Former Worcestershire off-spinner Shaftab was briefly on England's radar as a player, but he has made his mark in coaching after retiring from playing professionally a decade ago

Former Worcestershire off-spinner Shaftab Khalid has become the first coaching graduate to sign with a county through his work with the South Asian Cricket Academy.

Shaftab, 40, went on an England A tour to India as a youngster but only played 21 games as a professional. Since then, though, he has established himself as a highly regarded young coach, working with England Under-19s' spinners recently and now, via SACA, joining Warwickshire as a high-performance coach.

That role will principally be focused on the county's academy, but The Cricketer understands that he has already been working with Warwickshire's senior spinners this winter.

Shaftab was known during his time as a player as one of few spinners in the English game to bowl a doosra, which he developed by playing tapeball cricket as a youngster, and he told The Cricketer earlier this month as part of a piece about the delivery that he has been teaching the ball to the young spinners he works with.

^{Shaftab Khalid was part of an England A tour in 2004 (Stu Forster/Getty Images)}

"I'm delighted Shaftab's become our first coaching graduate," said Tom Brown, SACA's co-founder and managing director.

"He's been a major part of the SACA programme since the start and has already helped many players progress their game to the next level. I'm sure he can continue to do so at Warwickshire and wish him best of luck."

Shaftab, who was involved with coaching a SACA side that faced Warwickshire's second team in 2022, was born in Lahore but moved to England as a 10-year-old.

Since retiring from playing in 2012, he has worked as lead performance coach at Bedfordshire in 2018 and has also coached at Worcestershire's academy.

Although he is the first coach to graduate from SACA's programme, he follows in the footsteps of Kashif Ali, Andy Umeed and Zain-ul-Hassan, all of whom have signed playing contracts at first-class counties since the scheme was set up.

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