By JMB
September 15 2006

Yorkshire Director of Cricket David Byas says the conveyor belt of talent in the county continues to work at full throttle. Eighteen-year-old leg-spinner Adil Rashid took 6-67 on his debut to help Yorkshire to victory over Warwickshire in the Liverpool Victoria County Championship. Picked primarily as a batsman, Rashid’s feats with the ball captured the imagination of the country and even earned praise from England chairman of selectors David Graveney.

And Byas insists Rashid - playing for England Under-19s against India this week alongside Yorkshire team-mate Adam Lyth - is “just one of a number” of players coming through the ranks at Headingley who have bright futures ahead of them.

"It was great what Adil did last week - it couldn’t have gone any better for him on his debut,” Byas told ecb.co.uk. “He’s certainly got the talent, but it’s not like he’s the only one. There are plenty of young players who we think a lot of, and hopefully we’ll see a lot more of them in the future. It’s nice that the conveyor belt is still producing all these players.”

The emergence of players such as Rashid, who have been involved with the county since a young age, is a particular source of pleasure for Byas, as passionate a Yorkshireman as one could wish to meet.

Rashid’s debut also saw Dewsbury-born Andrew Gale register his maiden first-class century, Pontefract’s Tim Bresnan take six wickets and Joe Sayers - from Leeds - make 72, his highest score of the season.

“We saw last week that there are good young players around - Ajmal Shazhad is another who did well in the Twenty20 Cup - and it’s very rewarding to see them coming through,” added Byas.

“As a coach, it’s great to see players who have come through the club make it into the first team, and then it’s just a case of seeing what they can do. They will get their chances - there’s no doubt about that - and they have the talent to succeed.”

Byas was at pains to emphasise the importance of his fellow coaches in the development of Rashid and Co. “It’s not just myself that has got these players to where they are, not by a long stretch; it’s a collective thing for the team, the coaches and the management,” he said. “I’m just starting out in the job really, but someone like (bowling coach) Steve Oldham has been doing this for years. He will be just as proud as Adil at how well he did last week.

“Guys like Steve, Kevin (Sharp, batting coach), Ian (Dews, Academy coach) and Richard Blakey (second XI coach) have all done their bit. When a player comes through it’s a real pat on the back for them. Often these guys behind the scenes don’t get the praise they deserve - but it shows how hard they’re working and how well they’re doing. They’ve got all this knowledge and they’re passing it on to others. Long may it continue.”