Yorkshire chairman Colin Graves has accused Ajmal Shahzad of not being a team player in the wake of the fast bowler’s shock departure from Headingley earlier this week.

Graves revealed issues have surrounded the Bradford-raised seamer for the last season and a bit, which came to a head during last week’s County Championship match against Kent at Canterbury.

The chairman called a meeting with Shahzad, his agent Neil Fairbrother and director of professional cricket Martyn Moxon on Tuesday, which concluded after 40 minutes by him deciding the best course of action would be for the player to find a new county.

Graves was speaking during the second day of the County Championship match against Leicestershire at Scarborough, where 26-year-old Shahzad was not missed.

In reply to Yorkshire’s 447, in which Jonny Bairstow made 182 and Anthony McGrath 90, Leicester were bowled out for just 116 and made to follow-on as McGrath led the way with 4-21 from 12.2 overs.

Leicester then lost Greg Smith lbw to Steve Patterson in the last over of the day to close on 3-1 in their second innings as Graves spoke about Shahzad.

He explained: “Martyn reported to me on Tuesday morning when they returned from Kent and told me that issues had arisen again during the Kent game which the coaches were unhappy with.

“He (Shahzad) had made a comment to someone internally regarding his future at Yorkshire.

“When I heard that, I thought the best thing to do was to bring it to a head. I am not going to sit here, three matches into the season, and let it affect our season. Cricket is a team game and Yorkshire is bigger than everybody.

“At the end of the day, that’s why I took the decision to call a meeting.

“We sat down and went through it all. Everybody had their say. To be honest, I listened to everybody – I sat quiet for 40 minutes, which is unusual for me – and I just turned round and said there’s no way forward.

“Everybody in the club’s wrong and he’s got his own ideas. It’s a team game, it’s about the players out there. Ajmal couldn’t see that.

“I am not prepared to have someone playing for Yorkshire who doesn’t want to be part of the team. All the comments I’ve heard from Ajmal is always about him, it’s not about the team. To me, cricket’s a team game.”

Graves said Yorkshire had wanted Shahzad to be at the club for the rest of his playing career but that is not now going to happen.

“I feel disappointed for Martyn and I feel disappointed for Andrew Gale because they have tried strenuously over the last 12 months to work with the guy,” he said.

“I also feel sorry for Ajmal Shahzad because, for some reason, he hasn’t taken that opportunity.

“I hope it works out for him. I hope it works out for England’s point of view as well. The guy has got potential but I’ve said it to Martyn, how many matches has he won for Yorkshire? Look through the records.”

Graves also said that Yorkshire would pay a portion of Shahzad’s wages if a county who wanted him on loan could not afford the full salary.

McGrath took the new ball in Leicester’s second innings today after getting Ramnaresh Sarwan and Ned Eckersley lbw, Josh Cobb caught behind and Alex Wyatt caught in the slips.