Ajmal Shahzad is confident that he and his fellow bowlers can dig Yorkshire out of their losing streak against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, starting today.

Shahzad has been part of the two 40-over defeats against the Netherlands and Derbyshire but has watched on from the sidelines as his team-mates suffered back-to-back County Championship losses against Durham and Notts.

The 25-year-old ex-Windhill man has now recovered sufficiently from the twin hamstring injuries he sustained on England duty over the winter to line up for his first four-day appearance since last November.

Yorkshire’s batsmen have been in poor form, failing to chase down two targets in the one-day matches and sliding to below par totals in their last two Champion-ship outings.

So Shahzad wants to help them out at a historically bowler-friendly Trent Bridge.

He said: “I guess they’re going to prepare a decent seaming wicket with the amount of bowlers they have but that should suit us with the likes of myself and Ryan Sidebottom in our attack. If we can bowl well, I’m confident we can win the game.”

Shahzad played in last week’s three-day friendly against Durham University, taking 5-61 in the second innings.

“I’m feeling stronger every time I bowl,” he said. “I’m finding my rhythm and control. I’m hitting good areas and just need to tighten it up a little.”

Captain Andrew Gale is refusing to be too downbeat after four losses on the spin.

He said: “I haven’t come down hard on the lads. There has been enough to suggest that we should have been winning some of these games we’ve lost.

“I was never getting carried away at the end of last year (when we were doing well), and I’m not panicking yet.

“Jacques Rudolph was always going to be missed, and Anthony McGrath has been injured. That is a huge amount of runs lost.”