Moin Ashraf Aims To Emulate Root By Playing For England

Moin Ashraf Aims To Emulate Root By Playing For England

Moin Ashraf (left) has already had plenty of valuable experience with Yorkshire but is eager to go even further, targeting an England place alongside his team-mate Joe Root

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Yorkshire fast bowler Moin Ashraf says he is keen to emulate the success of his team-mate and break into the England team.

Although made his first-class debut as recently in 2010 he played a key role in their return to the top flight of the County Championship in 2012 and their journey all the way to the final of the Friends Life t20 competition.

Talking exclusively to www.pakpassion.net, Ashraf said, "I'm very happy for Joe, he’s developed into an outstanding cricketer in such a short space of time. He was tipped for success at a very early age, but that doesn’t always turn into success straight away.

"You have to work hard and boy does he work hard! He's always the first one into the nets and the last one out so he's always practicing hard. He’s someone I do want to try to emulate by breaking into the England side because he’s done everything in such a short space of time.

"I think I played county cricket before he did - I started in 2010 and he started his county career in 2011 and he had a fantastic year. That stood him in good stead for having a really good 2012 and it's taken him two good seasons in county cricket to get into the England side.

"It shows how quickly things can happen if you do the right things at the right times so obviously it’s good for me to look at it in that way and hope I can be doing the same in a year or two. I just need to bide my time and make sure I take the chance if it comes. We're all really pleased for Joe."

To date, Ashraf has taken 39 first-class wickets, 15 one-day wickets and 17 Twenty20 wickets in his 49 appearances to date. Asked about his short-term and long-term goals, Ashraf was clear and honest about his ambitions.

"Short-term goals are to play as many games as I can for Yorkshire. I had the same last year as well. I didn’t have a set number of games I should play, I always just try to take one stage of the season at a time and try to take it a step at a time," he said.

"As a fast bowler, you want to play as many games as you can, but it’s not going to happen due to the workload and the number of overs you have to bowl in a season.

"I want to have another successful Twenty20 season. That would be one thing that’s high on my agenda for this season, as well as featuring in the County Championship and taking quite a few wickets at critical times like I did last year as well.

"In the Pro40, I'd like to do the same as I did last year and have an effective season. All in all, I think it’s something to build on from the foundations of last year. I'm looking to kick on now, take it one step further and hopefully build on last season.

"As for the long term, there’s no secret in me saying that I want to represent my country. I want to play for the best team in the world, to try and make England the best team in the world in all formats.

"That would be an honour for me and a dream for me to go out and represent my country. This is my country; this is where I was born. This is the country that’s made me who I am today, so it would be nice to go out there and represent them and do my best for them."

While in recent seasons, fellow team-mates Ajmal Shahzad and Adil Rashid have represented England, they have only done so fleetingly and failed to hold down a place in the side.

Ashraf clearly has the determination, the confidence and the drive to succeed where others have failed. Time will tell if he can do so and this season, with Yorkshire back in the top flight, offers a huge opportunity for him to start the process of earning national selection.

© Cricket World 2013