- Joined
- Oct 2, 2004
- Runs
- 217,884
Northamptonshire's Saif Zaib speaking to Saj about his time at the club and the ongoing Vitality Blast campaign
25-year-old Saif Zaib made an appearance in a first team friendly against Durham UCCE as a 15-year-old back in 2014 and followed that up with a List A debut against New Zealand A shortly after his 16th birthday. Having witnessed many changes at the club, he feels that Northamptonshire are undoubtedly heading in the right direction on and off the field.
“I’ve been at Northamptonshire for so long that it feels like I am part of the furniture which is a nice feeling. The club is going through a lot of very positive changes and hopefully in the years to come I can have a bigger impact here. We’ve had changes of captain; several new faces have come in and a lot of changes off the field. There has been a lot of investment at the club regarding facilities so it is a good time to be here.”
Despite being at Northamptonshire for as long as he has, Zaib feels that a key element in his development is the support from senior players around him.
It’s amazing to have the likes of Chris Lynn and David Willey around. You can learn so much from them, seeing how they train, and their professionalism is something that I aspire to. I would take half their achievements in a heartbeat. To achieve what they have is incredible and it’s an absolute pleasure to be in the same dressing room as them.”
Northamptonshire’s youngest ever first-team player feels that he is finally shaking off the tag of a promising player and hopes to now realise his potential and become an integral part of Northamptonshire’s future.
“I feel like I am now an established part of the Northamptonshire side, but I need to back it up with consistent performances and win matches for the County. Too often I make a big score and then follow it up with a couple of low scores and then a couple of big scores. Hopefully it’s an area of my game that I can improve upon this season and in the coming years.”
A match-winning 70 not out off 35 balls against Worcestershire on 4th June in the Vitality Blast was according to Zaib much-needed and the type of innings which he feels he needs to play more often.
“I was lacking confidence ahead of the match, but the innings against Worcestershire was a career highlight. My focus ahead of this season was not just to concentrate on the number of runs, rather play innings that have an impact on a match. That was my goal and to play an innings like that gave my confidence a huge boost. Hopefully I can play more innings like that one in future.”
Whilst Northamptonshire Steelbacks currently sit second bottom in the North Group, Zaib feels that all is not lost and if the Steelbacks play to their potential then they could qualify for the quarter-finals.
“We’ve got some tough matches coming up in the Blast and it’s getting to the stage where we need to win almost all of our matches to qualify for the next stage. We haven’t performed to our potential and how we should have. We’ve shown glimpses of our potential but we haven’t gelled as regularly as we should have. On paper we have a great team but it just hasn’t come together. Hopefully we’ll be back firing on all cylinders in the coming matches.”
25-year-old Saif Zaib made an appearance in a first team friendly against Durham UCCE as a 15-year-old back in 2014 and followed that up with a List A debut against New Zealand A shortly after his 16th birthday. Having witnessed many changes at the club, he feels that Northamptonshire are undoubtedly heading in the right direction on and off the field.
“I’ve been at Northamptonshire for so long that it feels like I am part of the furniture which is a nice feeling. The club is going through a lot of very positive changes and hopefully in the years to come I can have a bigger impact here. We’ve had changes of captain; several new faces have come in and a lot of changes off the field. There has been a lot of investment at the club regarding facilities so it is a good time to be here.”
Despite being at Northamptonshire for as long as he has, Zaib feels that a key element in his development is the support from senior players around him.
It’s amazing to have the likes of Chris Lynn and David Willey around. You can learn so much from them, seeing how they train, and their professionalism is something that I aspire to. I would take half their achievements in a heartbeat. To achieve what they have is incredible and it’s an absolute pleasure to be in the same dressing room as them.”
Northamptonshire’s youngest ever first-team player feels that he is finally shaking off the tag of a promising player and hopes to now realise his potential and become an integral part of Northamptonshire’s future.
“I feel like I am now an established part of the Northamptonshire side, but I need to back it up with consistent performances and win matches for the County. Too often I make a big score and then follow it up with a couple of low scores and then a couple of big scores. Hopefully it’s an area of my game that I can improve upon this season and in the coming years.”
A match-winning 70 not out off 35 balls against Worcestershire on 4th June in the Vitality Blast was according to Zaib much-needed and the type of innings which he feels he needs to play more often.
“I was lacking confidence ahead of the match, but the innings against Worcestershire was a career highlight. My focus ahead of this season was not just to concentrate on the number of runs, rather play innings that have an impact on a match. That was my goal and to play an innings like that gave my confidence a huge boost. Hopefully I can play more innings like that one in future.”
Whilst Northamptonshire Steelbacks currently sit second bottom in the North Group, Zaib feels that all is not lost and if the Steelbacks play to their potential then they could qualify for the quarter-finals.
“We’ve got some tough matches coming up in the Blast and it’s getting to the stage where we need to win almost all of our matches to qualify for the next stage. We haven’t performed to our potential and how we should have. We’ve shown glimpses of our potential but we haven’t gelled as regularly as we should have. On paper we have a great team but it just hasn’t come together. Hopefully we’ll be back firing on all cylinders in the coming matches.”
