One of the most heart-warming sights in a Yorkshire match so far this season was Ajmal Shahzad leading his team off at Headingley Carnegie with a huge grin on his face after he had helped to send county champions Sussex packing for 141 with career-best figures of four for 22 from 8.4 sharpish overs.

The Bradford-reared all-rounder could not conceal his delight as he came through the gate with the applause of team-mates and fans ringing in his ears.

And rightly so because the 21-year-old came of age in this match by first showing stacks of ability with the bat and then producing a bowling stint which was more productive than anything his experienced colleagues Jason Gillespie, Deon Kruis and Tim Bresnan could manage.

Shahzad deserved his moment of joy because fortune has not always favoured him since he burst onto the scene three years ago, when he made history by becoming the first Yorkshire-born cricketer from an ethnic background to play for the county.

No sooner had he made his debut against Worcestershire in the Sunday League at Headingley Carnegie on May 23, 2004 than he broke down with a stress fracture in his back and that was it for the remainder of the season.

It was two years before Shahzad forced his way back into the first team by appearing in the Twenty20 Cup quarter-final match against Essex at Chelmsford late last July, when he put real pressure on the home side with two wickets in three overs - including the prize scalp of Darren Gough.

But he could not complete his spell because he suffered a further injury which sidelined him until the closing weeks of the season, when he made his Championship debut against Middlesex at Scarborough and also turned out in a couple of Friends Provident Trophy and NatWest Pro40 games.

Now Shahzad is one of the fittest and strongest members of Yorkshire's playing squad and although gaining a regular first-team Championship place at the moment is not easy for him, he will do everything possible to try and make it come about.

"It is essential that whenever I get the chance to perform in the first team I make the most of it and do well," said Shahzad.

"They say a fast bowler is not at his peak until he is 24 or 25, so I have time to keep improving."

Shahzad revealed that he had stepped up his pace this season and would like to become the fastest bowler on Yorkshire's staff.

"I was told before the start of the season just to run up and bowl fast and it is the best advice I have ever had," he said.

Shahzad quite rightly classes himself as an all-rounder and he proved that description to be accurate with his polished 32 not out against Sussex, which was the top score of the innings and contained six quality boundaries.

He would like to have gone in earlier than number ten but appreciates that he could hardly have pushed in front of Jason Gillespie, who has a Test match double century for Australia to his name.

"Ideally, I would like to bat at seven, which is the spot taken up by Tim Bresnan at the moment," said Shahzad, who probably thinks that displacing the England one-day all-rounder offers him the best chance of clinching a regular place.

Or could circumstances contrive to let him into the side in place of Adil Rashid, the leg-spin wonder who, to a degree, pushed Shahzad into the shadows when Rashid himself came to the fore?

"Adil has done very well since he came into the side," said Shahzad, before adding with a grin: "The next step for him might be a place in the England Test squad."

Further opportunities for Shahzad may well open up next season, particularly if Gillespie and Kruis are no longer around, but for the time being the young all-rounder will be straining every sinew to make sure that Yorkshire cannot possibly ignore his claims.