FORMER Yorkshire and England paceman Ajmal Shahzad is impressed by the standard of cricket in the Bradford Premier League, and he is confident that his New Farnley side can go all the way next season.

They finished as runners-up by just three points to Pudsey St Lawrence in the Premier Division last year, but Shahzad believes that everything is in place for them to come out on top in 2019.

He enthused: "We're trying to build our youth system and bring in some homegrown players and we have (former county cricketer) Mark Lawson as our youth coach.

"We're in a transitional period, where there's players like me, a Bradford lad, coming back into the game but we also have players like young Middlesex all-rounder Martin Andersson, who have come up from London to play some cricket of a good standard.

"The quality of the league is still very high and it's nice to see some of the current Yorkshire players in the league. Andrew Hodd was at New Farnley last season so I'm playing with and going up against very good players.

"We were unlucky to miss out this season but we've dusted ourselves off and we're already doing some pre-season fitness training.

"It builds team morale and spirit. We've got a few new faces in the team that we're trying to amalgamate too, so fingers crossed when it comes to training in nets in January and February, we'll be ahead of the game."

A teenage Shahzad was at Bradford League side Windhill at the turn of the century, where he witnessed the top-flight club suffer major financial problems.

After dropping down the league and applying for re-election on several occasions, they eventually resigned before the 2016 season, before returning at Conference level a year later.

Shahzad, who is now 33, admitted: "The Bradford League has changed, as have the regions where players come from, so some teams have been lost to financial struggles.

"The standard is still very good which is why I wanted to get back involved. The knock-on effect of that is you become a household name again.

"Your name is in the local T&A when the cricket results go out. Not only that, but when you play against these lads, they're learning from you and you're educating them, so that's a good thing to do."