Azeem Rafiq has been such a great addition to our squad over the last couple of weeks and I’ve loved having him around.

Azeem, who bowled superbly for his 1-20 against Lancashire on Friday, is a 'three-dimensional' cricketer because he bats well and fields superbly on top of his skills with the ball.

He’s also been a great help to me because the tactical side of his game is absolutely top drawer.

He’s a match-winner with a great attitude. He’s got an aggressive edge that any team desperately needs. And I think he’s bowling just as good as, if not better than, he ever has been.

He’s been particularly good in helping Karl Carver develop as well. Those two have worked so closely together which is a great thing.

On the outside, it looks like they are just jostling for the same position - but they are desperate for each other to perform well.

I’m really excited about going forward and growing this limited overs team with him alongside me and the rest of the lads.

In terms of his four-day cricket, Pakistan 'A' last week was a big game for him to see how he fared against decent opposition.

He got plenty of overs in, returning 3-60 from 20, and he bowled beautifully. He probably answered his own insecurity there - if he had any - ahead of playing against Middlesex this week.

Azeem claimed the man-of-the-match award in our win over Lancashire, which I thought was a great all-round performance from the lads.

With the bat, I thought 141-7 was a decent total. We batted well on the whole. Then, with the ball, we kept our nerve. I think we out-skilled them a bit, which is great to see.

Our fielding was outstanding and it looked like we had a clear plan for what we wanted to do with bat and ball too. I was elated with the win.

It was our biggest game of the season, and probably theirs too, so those are the sort of games that can kick-start your season if you win. Hopefully we can get a run now.

Liam Livingstone hit three sixes in an over and that perhaps made it a little bit closer than what it actually felt. That’s cricket, though.

Even in the last over they had a sniff, needing 12 with one wicket left. Thankfully, we just got over the line.

The last five limited overs games we’ve completed, we’ve been in a winning position for all of them and have won four.

We won the two one-day games at Scarborough and Old Trafford, we had the Notts T20 rained off, we beat Derby at home, lost to Durham and won on Friday.

I believe that - had the Durham game gone 20 overs in their chase - we’d have won that one as well. We were all over them when the rain arrived with them just ahead on DL.

I’m excited about the next few weeks because of that.

It will be great to have Travis Head in and around the squad from this week. He’s due to arrive tomorrow, so we’ll wait to make a final call on his availability for Friday’s T20 game against Birmingham.

Flying over from Australia, we might give him a few days to get settled but we’ll see how we go later in the week.

I think he’s coming over at just the right time because we’re building confidence and he will only add to that with his brand of cricket and new ideas about the game.

It was great to see our young batsman Eliot Callis perform so well against Pakistan 'A' in last week’s friendly at Headingley.

Opening the batting with me, he got 84 in the first innings and was 30 not out in the second when the rain came.

He looked really promising against a decent bowling attack which included one lad (Bilawal Bhatti) who has played two Test Matches.

I think Eliot’s perhaps battled with himself over the last couple of years. By his own admission, he’s perhaps not been as calm as he’d like to be. But he’s done some really good work this year.

He’s been consistent in the second team, which has given him some real confidence to move forward with.

He is definitely putting pressure on the rest of our Championship top six.

But he needs to keep doing it. It shows that when the time comes, we’ve got somebody who can step up and do a job for us.

Alex and his sponsors Pennine Business Partners are aiming to Hit Cancer for Six in 2016. They are donating £10 to the Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust every time Alex hits a six or takes a catch, and are asking cricket lovers everywhere to support this great cause that provides special care and support to young people fighting cancer. Visit Pennine Business Partners page on Just Giving https://www.justgiving.com/Pennine-Business-Partners