Rashid wants chance to put Lehmann in a spin
All-rounder targets Ashes call-up
ADIL RASHID owes his break in cricket partly to the man whose plans he hopes to ruin this summer. As h e pre pa re s for the second match of the Royal London Series between England and New Zealand at The Kia Oval tomorrow, Rashid must build on his promising display in the first match, when the leg-spinner scored 69 and took four for 55 to help England achieve a record 210-run win.
With Moeen Ali struggling for form, Rashid’s ultimate goal is a place in England’s Ashes squad. If he can break through, he would face an Australia team coached by Darren Lehmann — whose calf injury in July 2006 gave Rashid the chance to make his Yorkshire debut ahead of schedule.
Aged just 18, Rashid was picked as a batsman for Yorkshire’s Championship clash with Warwickshire at Scarborough, but took six for 67 in the second innings to help his side to victory.
The journey since then has not always been smooth for Rashid, who ended a six-year England exile when he played in the one-day international in Ireland last month. Yet it is believed Paul Farbrace, England’s interim coach who also worked at Yorkshire, is keen to find a place for Rashid in the Test team.
Trevor Bayliss, who will take over before the Ashes, is thought to have a similar opinion. If he maintains the form he showed at Edgbaston, Rashid has a genuine chance of replacing Moeen for the First Test in Cardiff — and locking horns with Lehmann.
Eoin Morgan is highly unlikely to be involved in the Ashes but England’s limited-overs captain believes Rashid is ready. He said: “It will be huge. As a captain, it is great to have someone in your side who can turn the ball both ways, with the control Adil shows. He is a different cricketer from when we we r e first in the England squ ad together in 2009.
“He hasn’t changed as a personality and I don’t want him to c ha nge , because he is his own unique self, but as a cricketer, he has certainly matured. The game at Edgbaston was the ideal scenario for him to bowl.
“We had 408 and that allowed him to settle quite easily. After he had settled, we could attack a bit in the field, and he was outstanding when we did.”
Rashid has worked with both the late Terry Jenner, who coached the great Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne, and former England off-spinner Graeme Swann as he tried to develop his game. For a time, it seemed as though he might never play for England again. Rashid struggled for form in the early part of the decade, certainly in four-day cricket, although he had a decent stint in the Big Bash, Australia’s Twenty20 franchise tournament.
Last summer, though, Rashid was close to his best, taking 46 wickets at an average of 26 as Yorkshire took the Championship. Their Australian coach, Jason Gillespie — who was pipped to the England post by Trevor Bayliss — also backed Rashid to succeed in Test cricket. He told the BBC: “If he was given an opportunity, a lot of support and a lot of backing, he would repay that faith. I have seen him perform in a lot of different conditions.”