I was born and bred in Cardiff, and sports were in my genes with my father playing professional football and being surrounded by a family that had a passion for cricket.
When growing up and seeing the likes of Imran Khan, Darren Gough, Waqar Younis, Curtley Ambrose and Allan Donald I knew fast bowling was for me.
Growing up in Cardiff and as a proud Welshman, I naturally gravitated towards rugby but I also excelled in athletics, particularly sprinting and enjoyed basketball too, but unfortunately for my dad, it was not football!
My first home club was St Fagans CC, a club where I learnt and developed my game and was noticed by an ex-Glamorgan CCC player who saw my potential as a fast bowler and arranged for a trial at Glamorgan CCC (GCCC). I remember being so excited that I was going to trial for my home County and wanted to show how good of a fast bowler I was. It would be a dream to be on the (GCCC) books as a professional. This kept me awake the night before. I felt I had the raw pace as a fast bowler but I also was good in the field and could hold a bat too.
I attended a number of training sessions with GCCC and thoroughly enjoyed learning and even excelling in the professional environment. After attending a number of these training sessions, I soon realised I was not getting the same care and attention as some other players by way of preparing us for a journey towards the professional game. I also happened to be the only player from Cardiff and from an ethnic background.
After a while I found myself feeling that I was not part of the squad but for some reason, I also felt isolated due to not being informed or updated on matters such as when the next training and fitness sessions were and I had to ask the other players where and when these were.
As we got into the season, I started to put together some decent performances, however, I felt that stats didn’t truly reflect my true potential as I felt I was underused. Not bowling regularly in matches started to affect my confidence and my game and made me question the purpose of me being in the team.
Over the course of the season, I continued to play for GCCC 2nd XI, the Wales Minor County side and after showing some promise, I was called up to the GCCC 1st team as 12th man. I felt this was a significant moment in my fledgling career and I felt that being called into the 1st team environment meant that not only could I show my fast-bowling skills during practice but also, they must think I was a very capable fielder too. I could not wait!
Unfortunately, my moment to represent GLCCC 1st team never came despite there being an injury to one of the bowlers on the morning of the game as I was informed that I was not registered with the PCA.
I also felt, at the time that it was difficult for me to really find a sense of belonging and one of the most popular get-togethers for the players and coaching staff was to socialise in pubs, bars and club environments, which as a practising Muslim were against the teachings of my faith. I can now see that by me not being part of that social network it came across that I was distant from getting involved and making friends or building professional relationships, this never was my intention.
Sometime later I suffered a torn Achilles, and GCCC were not able to assist with my injury or recovery as I was not a contracted player. This was a particularly difficult moment and left me thinking about what the future held for me and for my ambitions to make it into the professional game with my home County.
Once my journey had ended with GCCC, I moved to the UAE in search of a new challenge and soon realised my passion for coaching.
I wanted to start from a position of giving back to the game and working with aspiring and talented young cricketers. Over a 10-year period, I set up my own academy, and coached within the West Indies test team set up when they were in the UAE, Afghanistan Premier League and a number of T10 leagues too.
After a long period of being away from home I returned to Cardiff and had plans and aspirations to coach and work in cricket should the opportunity arise. I also felt that I had to cross a bridge in my own development and share my experiences of what my journey was like with GCCC and how I felt it was stifled unfairly. Once this became public, Hugh Morris the CEO at GCCC contacted me. After extensive dialogue with him, we felt that it was important to listen and learn from my experiences and find very real ways to improve the structure and environment for players from all ethnic groups. I felt assured and was pleased that my thoughts and experiences were being understood and sincere efforts were going to be put into place thus making a very real difference.
At a later point, it was also discussed, how I could get involved with GCCC as a coach but equally important how I could help bridge the gap between the South Asian Cricketing Community and GCCC. I found this to be a fantastic opportunity and an exciting challenge.
I have over the last few months been involved with the GCCC Pathway set-up as well as working with the u13’s, u14’s and u15’s. This has been a fantastic experience and one that I have thoroughly enjoyed.
At this moment, I knew that I had to upskill myself and applied for the ECB Advanced Coach course. After getting extensive advice and support from Sohail Rauf and Yusuf Karolia from the National Asian Cricket Council and John Neal from the ECB Coach Development team, I recently started the course.
In finishing, I am delighted to confirm that I have just been appointed the Head Coach of the GCCC/Wales u15’s/u16’s team and will also be working with the academy. I would like to offer my sincere appreciation to the NACC for all their advice and support and to GCCC, and in particular to Mark Frost, who has been nothing short of amazing! I’m excited to be able to contribute to the future of aspiring young cricketers as well as working with the community in Cardiff.
Mark Frost said…
“Glamorgan Cricket is delighted to bring on board Mohsin Arif into our Wales U15/16 Age Group Programme as a key team Coach. Mohsin has been working closely with Cricket Wales in terms of supporting the regional area of the pathway and so it is really good to now add his experience to the coaching team at Glamorgan.”
