England unlikely to go the two-spinner route in Ashes opener
LONDON: Adil Rashid earned a surprise call-up to England’s squad for the first Ashes Test but he is highly unlikely to play next week in Cardiff.
Rashid is the only member of England’s 13-man party who was not on their four-day bonding mission in Spain but he has been added to the 11 who played in England’s last Test along with Steven Finn, the spare fast bowler.
The Yorkshire leg-spinner has been included because of the hot weather that may leave the Swalec Stadium pitch drier than expected. It is believed that England want him in Cardiff as a precaution in case the heat-wave extends into next week but they will almost certainly name the same team that lost the second Test against New Zealand at Headingley.
That means Moeen Ali, who missed the fantastic series of limited-overs matches against New Zealand to concentrate on red-ball bowling in the county championship, remains England’s first-choice spinner.
Rashid impressed in those one-day matches and is clearly in the frame for the Ashes summer with Trevor Bayliss, England’s new coach, preferring slow bowlers who can turn the ball both ways. But it still seems unlikely that England will repeat their policy of the first Ashes Test of 2009 when they fielded both Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar on a particularly dry pitch at Cardiff.
Now England’s spin reserves are no greater than Australia’s and they would prefer seaming wickets with little bounce to try to negate the obvious strength of Australia’s fast bowlers.
Liam Plunkett missed out on the 12 because of injury, leaving Finn as first reserve to the expected pace attack of Jimmy Anderson, Broad and Mark Wood.
National selector James Whitaker was keen to stress that the inclusion of both Ali and Rashid was to give coach Bayliss and captain Alastair Cook plenty of options on what could be a turning pitch in south Wales.
Rashid was understandably thrilled to be included but revealed he would take it on the chin if he was not in the first
Stuart XI next Wednesday.
“It’s nice to be part of the squad and if I do get a head’s up, I’ll try my best and if I don’t, it’s no drama. I’m still part of the squad and it’s always a learning curve to be playing or not to play.” England squad: Alastair Cook (captain), Moeen Ali, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Ian Bell, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn, Adam Lyth, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Mark Wood