Adil Rashid finds some form

Nothing gets an England cricket fan (or selector for that matter) more excited than the prospect of the national side fielding a world-class leg-spinner.

It led to the extraordinarily premature selection of Chris Schofield for two tests against Zimbabwe in 2000. Unsurprisingly, it all ended in tears and Schofield is still trying to rebuild his career at Surrey after things went sour with Lancashire. Whither too Ian Salisbury who was tried and discarded in the 1990s.

So there was much wetting of selectorial pants when Adil Rashid burst onto the scene in 2006 with six wickets on his first-class debut for Yorkshire. Incredibly, the hype went up to the maximum almost straight away and the young Rashid was called a number of variations of the same theme - essentially an English Shane Warne. The fact that he can bat and has a first-class average touching 40 increased the hysteria.

Eventually Geoff Miller and co could contain themselves no longer and he was called up for experience purposes for the tours of India in 2008 and West Indies in early 2009. Then he was selected for the 2009 World T20 and did reasonably well.

Since then he has been badly messed about by the selectors, most famously being withdrawn after one expensive over in Alastair Cook's farcical debut as England captain in a Twenty 20 match against South Africa at Centurion last November. Suddenly the England hierarchy was nervous and James Tredwell leapfrogged Rashid for the tour of Bangladesh; which was surely the ideal opportunity to blood the young leg spinner. A chastened Rashid returned to Yorkshire with his confidence and morale understandably low.

When naming our 12 players to watch this county season (see part 1 and part 2here), we wrote the following about Rashid:

"Rashid has only just turned 22 and even if the Englandhierarchy has stymied his development over the last 12 months, there is plenty of time for Rashid to develop into the match-winning leg-spinner his promise suggests he can be. The Bangladeshseries should have been an excellent testing ground for Rashid, but maybe his non-selection is a blessing in disguise. What he needs is bowling time and plenty of it, and he is much more likely to get that in Yorkshire’s championship side than ferrying drinks for the England squad. His batting too continues to grow in promise with 545 championship runs at 68.12 in 2009. If Englandand the player himself are patient then Rashid will eventually become that rare commodity; a leg-spinning all-rounder. We at the Reverse Sweep expect a big season from Rashid once he has regained his confidence and rhythm."

Up until last week, it seemed that Rashid was still struggling for form and confidence. He was taking wickets, but he was proving expensive and his economy rate was poor. His batting though seemed unaffected. But the light at the end of the tunnel seems to have been reached in his two most recent championship matches. Last week at Southampton, he followed up a 51 with four for 62 in 18.4 overs against Hampshire, and in the Roses match this week he took four Lancashire wickets before hitting a fluent 65 in Yorkshire's reply.

Talk of him making the Ashes squad is ridiculous. Rashid is not ready for that and England need to be patient with regards to test cricket. But with the World Cup being on the subcontinent, England have a choice of Rashid, Michael Yardy's darts, Monty Panesar or the conservative James Tredwell as second spinner to Graeme Swann. Three spinners will be needed in the squad and we reckon that Rashid should be one of these.

With the forthcoming one day matches against Bangladesh and Australia upcoming, now might just be the time to restore Rashid to the one day squad and give him a proper run in international cricket. He will only miss the FP T20 whilst the one day internationals are being played, so if anything this move would enhance not affect his development.