Shahzad and Wainwright Awarded County Caps

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Ajmal Shahzad, David Wainwright and Andrew Gale capping ceremony

On the eve of this season's opening LV= County Championship fixture versus Warwickshire The Yorkshire County Cricket Club has awarded full caps to both Ajmal Shahzad and David Wainwright.

In both cases the honour recognises their sterling efforts during past seasons with the Club and also provides confirmation of the pivotal roles they will play in the coming years at Headingley Carnegie.

Ajmal first came to prominence in the 2004 season as the first British-born Asian to represent YCCC. He has shrugged-off the injuries that dogged the early part of his career and now finds himself both spearheading the White Rose's bowling attack and pressing hard for further international honours. With what appears to be a genuine hatred of batsmen he has matured into a truly ferocious pace bowler. That this is now allied with ever-growing skill as a lower order batsman is testament to his single-mindedness and application. We had to fight exceptionally hard to re-sign him at the end of last year. The interest shown in him by our rival First Class counties only goes to further illustrate the high regard the cricket world now holds him in. We wish him a long and successful career at both Headingely Carnegie and beyond.

David is indeed an enigmatic character. He is laden with talent yet only seems to show his true capabilities when the situation looks totally lost. So great is his capacity to produce match-winning spells of bowling and crucial batting performances at seaside grounds that we did briefly consider moving the entire Club to Scarborough on a permanent basis just for his benefit! No-one wears the White Rose with more pride than he and it is surely only a matter of time before his rise through England's representative ranks culminates in a much-deserved call-up to the first team. A quiet man blessed with steely determination and a tremendous fighting spirit we are incredibly fortunate to have him on our books and wish him nothing but success in all of his cricketing endeavours.

Commenting on the awards Martyn Moxon said: "Ajmal and David fully deserve their County caps. It is an exceptionally special moment for any Yorkshire player and they should both be immensely proud. Of course this is just another step along the way to what we all hope will be two illustrious Yorkshire careers. They are both terrific men and can be greatly heartened by what they've already achieved. However, wearing that cap brings added responsibility too and they must now be even more determined to bring success to Headingley Carnegie".