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SPIN bowling is ingrained in the Rashid family – Adil has been bamboozling batsmen for Yorkshire and lighting up the international stage with his performances in recent years.
But it is his older brother Amar who has taken home some incredible early season figures that even his brother will be jealous of.
The leg-spin bowling all-rounder has taken two five-wicket hauls – the most recent coming against Farsley last weekend – as well as picking up four wickets in a cup match for his beloved East Bierley side.
The Bradford Premier League outfit have struggled so far this season, winning just one of their opening four league matches, but Amar has been a standout performer.
“It has been a pretty good start for me on my bowling, I need to improve my batting as I am an all-rounder,” said the 31-year-old.
“Things have just worked out for me so far this season – sometimes in games you bowl really well but don’t get the wickets so it can just be about luck.
“I worked really hard on the bowling side of my game over the winter and I am glad to see it paying off.”
The one-time Unicorns player also took an incredible 5-5 in a nine-over spell against New Farnley to get his season off to the perfect start.
He added:“It was amazing – they just couldn’t pick my googly. It’s a shame so far that we haven’t won more matches this season, but we will get there.”
Those figures are made even more incredible by the fact Amar stopped bowling for six years during his 20s.
Although Amar now believes he is in the peak of his career, the Bradfordborn spinner is focusing on helping the cricketers of the future after setting up the Adil Rashid Cricket Academy.
“I’d love to have a crack at county cricket but it’s a tough process and although I am in the peak of my career, I would say, I love helping the juniors and the next generation in Bradford,” the humble spinner said.
“We like to send at least six children every year to Yorkshire trials from the academy. Some kids don’t get a chance around here but there is a lot of untapped potential in Bradford.
“It’s a very rewarding job to help give young people who passionate about cricket a platform and an opportunity.”
Growing up in the cricket mad family, Amar revealed it was in fact his older brother Haroon who was the best Rashid at the time.
He said: “Haroon was a fantastic player, he doesn’t play much now which is a shame, but he taught us both a lot.
“I help out Adil when I can – he’s always trying to improve his game and be the best. When he was younger he would push himself to the limit.
“Adil’s Test performances in India show he is good enough to make it in the squad. It was a tough series but he picked up more than 20 wickets on the subcontinent and that’s very impressive.”