FORMER Yorkshire and England paceman Ajmal Shahzad has admitted his pride at being nominated for the ECB’s Performance Coach of the Year award.

Shahzad took over as head coach of the Marylebone Cricket Club earlier this year and has quickly made his mark to be named the Coach of the Month in June.

The 34-year-old earned his award for his commitment to self-development as an ECB mentor and Shahzad is determined to continue to build on his growing reputation after stepping into coaching following his retirement in 2017.

“It’s an honour to have received the Coach of the Month award for June from the ECB,” said Shahzad, after he was recently presented the award by ECB head of coach development John Neal.

“There has been plenty of hard work gone in to achieving an award like this, not only over the course of the season, but for the last 18 months making the transition from being a professional cricket player into professional coaching.

“I’m also honoured and very privileged to have been appointed the head coach of Marylebone Cricket Club earlier this year.

“I can’t thank the ECB and the MCC enough for their continued support on this new journey. I hope I can keep progressing and learning and add value to the English coaching system in years to come.”

The Coach of the Month is selected by an ECB panel and recognises a head coach from one of the first-class counties or Kia Super League.

The six monthly winners are then nominated to win the Performance Coach of the Year award, which is set to be presented at the ECB Awards lunch at Lord’s later this year.