Rashid out to make his mark
Adil Rashid impressed on the pre-Christmas tour of India
Adil Rashid may not be not old enough to remember England’s last attempt to fast-track a leg-spinner into the Test side, but at 20 he is already within touching distance of playing international cricket.
Rashid was just 12 when the England and Wales Cricket Board handed Lancashire prospect Chris Schofield a central contract - he played just two wicketless Tests.
A host of left-armers and off-spinners have since occupied England’s slow-bowling ranks, but there is something about a leg-spinner that excites both fans and selectors alike.
And Rashid’s performances for Yorkshire last year - his 63 first-class wickets made him the most prolific English spinner on the county circuit - proved good enough to earn him a place as cover for the winter tour of India.
On Tuesday he will go one better when he flies to the Caribbean as a full member of the 16-man senior squad which takes on West Indies in a three-Test series.
And Rashid has promised to take everything he can from the tour.
“Going there on a senior tour is a big experience,” he said. “I’m going there to enjoy it and playing would come as a big bonus.
“Obviously we have Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar and they are two great spinners, world-class bowlers. So it will be tough to get into the team, but if I do get the chance I will try to perform.
Asked if he remembered the pitfalls which awaited his predecessor, he answered: “No, I think that (Schofield) was just before my time.
“But that doesn’t matter to me. Whether you’re 20 or 25 all you can do is try your best. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t.”
Rashid, though, has something which Schofield - and for that matter Panesar - does not. His confidence and application at the crease mark him out as more than just a handy tail-ender.
Indeed, if his batting continues to progress as it has in the last two seasons, it may not be Panesar or Swann he takes over from but all-rounder Andrew Flintoff.
Adil Rashid has plenty of talent with the bat to back up his leg-spin, making him a genuine all-rounder
“I see myself as an all-rounder - a genuine all-rounder,” he said.
“I feel that even when I bat lower down for Yorkshire I take the responsibility on my shoulders. In the last couple of seasons I’ve scored quite a few fifties, I’ve scored hundreds and it helps to do well with the bat.
“It’s important to get your first first-class hundred, or even Test hundred, because once you’ve got that in the bank, you feel more relaxed and you know you can do it.”
In less turbulent times, the emergence of such a player may have dominated the cricket pages, but Rashid’s arrival on the international stage has coincided with a stressful period for the English game.
His call-up to India was obscured by the Mumbai terror atrocities and the players’ brave return to India to complete their tour commitments, while the build-up to the West Indies series has taken a back seat to the departures of captain Kevin Pietersen and coach Peter Moores.
That Rashid is able to deal with such developments as calmly as he has suggests he has the temperament - as well as the statistics - to succeed at the highest level.
On Pietersen and his subsequent replacement as skipper, Andrew Strauss, Rashid said: “Before India I didn’t know Kevin and Andrew very well. But I spent two weeks with them, speaking to them, eating dinner with them, working in the nets. It was good to see how they worked.
“Kevin is a very confident person, a very proud person, which is good for his cricket.
“He is a world-class player, probably one of the best in the world and that is because of his attitude and his determination to do well.
“And Andrew Strauss has got all it takes to be a success. We had a team meeting the other day and he talked to us a lot about captaincy. It was a good and he knows what he is doing.”
