Worcestershire
After several Second XI games in 1999, Ali made his first-class debut for Worcestershire in early May 2000, when he appeared against Cambridge University at Fenner's, scoring 3 in his only innings. He played three other first-class games and one List A match that season, but did nothing significant in any of them. He was selected for the England Under-19s against Sri Lanka Under-19s in August, but his only score of note was the 59 he hit in the first Youth Test, which England won by an innings.
From 2001 to 2004 he played a few matches each season for Worcestershire, but was unable to make the breakthrough to becoming a true regular. He never scored a century for the county, falling agonisingly short in September 2003 when he was dismissed for 99 in a County Championship game against Yorkshire. At international Under-19 level, however, he enjoyed some success: he hit 155 against West Indies Under-19s at Trent Bridge in August 2001, while a year later he made 97 and 111 versus India Under-19s at Northampton.
He was selected for the ECB National Academy squad, and in December 2002 scored exactly 100 in a one-day match at Richardson Park, Perth against an England XI captained by Mark Butcher and containing several other capped England players. Ali was picked for the England A side's tour of Malaysia and India in 2003/04, and played in most of the important games. However, his form was disappointing, his only half-century of the tour the 56 he made against Tamil Nadu.
Read more about this topic: Kadeer Ali