PROFILE

Adil is a confidence player and at times in 2011 the twirl, bounce and swagger faded as wickets became hard to find. He started the summer with a bang as he bagged 6-77 and 5-37 to secure victory against Worcestershire at New Road and take the best ever figures by a Yorkshire leg-spinner, but the resultant 39 wickets at 43.38 will be a disappointment. His 556 runs at 24.17 was not a true reflection of his prodigious talent either.

He was Yorkshire’s leading CB40 wicket taker with 21 at 20.33 apiece and regularly took the new ball in the FPt20 as he took 15 wickets at 27.80 with a best of 4-26 as he regularly put the skids under the oppositions top order batting. T20 is a format Adil prospers in after being a key part of the South Australian Redbacks Big Bash winning side in 2010/11.

He had enjoyed his most productive season for Yorkshire in 2010 scoring 732 first-class runs at 45.75, although he will have been disappointed not to have added to his tally of four first-class hundreds. His 57 wickets at 31.29 was the best haul of the Yorkshire squad.

Although his batting failed to impress in the CB40 or FPt20 his bowling was as consistent as anyone’s. His 26 FPt20 wickets saw him right at the top of the tree in the UK and he added 12 CB40 wickets to underline his continued emergence as a one-day player. 

Adil enjoyed a meteoric emergence as a player. In July 2005 he took 6–13 for Yorkshire Academy and then added 111 for the Yorkshire Under-17s against Cheshire. In 2006, he made four successive centuries for the 2nd Team and replaced the injured Darren Lehmann to make his 1st Team debut against Warwickshire at Scarborough. He took 6-67 in the 2nd innings and finished the season with 25 wickets in six Championship appearances.

He was called up by England Under-19s in 2006 to play India Under-19s and in the 2nd Test, at Taunton, he scored 114 and 48 and claiming 8-157 and 2-45. He toured Bangladesh with England A in 2006/7. In July 2007 Rashid was called up to the England Lions side for a 4-day match against a touring Indian side and on 16 August he scored his maiden first class century, 108 against Worcestershire at Kidderminster.

Adil was named Cricket Writers' Club 2007 Young Cricketer of the Year and also won the PCA Young Player of the Year. He was named in the England Performance Programme squad for 2007/8 and 2008/9.

He bagged a career best 7-107 in 2008 against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl and scored a career best 111 in the vital final relegation saving match against Sussex. He was called into the full England Test squad for the India series in December 2008 and the squad to tour the West Indies. He was also part of the ODI and T20 squads to play the West Indies on the same tour. Rashid was selected in England's squad for the 2009 ICC World Twenty20, and played in four of England's five games in the tournament. He also played in the post-Ashes one-day series against Australia, but his most notable achievement came with the bat when he scored a quick-fire 31 in the narrow defeat at The Oval.

In 2009 he scored his highest ever first-class score 117* and took 5-41 and in the next game against Lancashire scored an unbeaten 157 and took 5-97 in the first innings. This was the first time this back-to-back double had been achieved by a Yorkshire player since George Herbert Hirst in 1911. He scored 545 runs at 68.12, including two hundreds, and picked up 31 wickets at 36.06 in the 2009 first-class season.

Rashid was included on the England tour of South Africa in 2009/10, but only increased his reputation as a drinks carrier and net bowler. He has not been picked for the full England side since although he was included in the England Lions squad to tour UAE in February. It was a major surprise to most Yorkshire supporters when Adil not only missed out on a 2010/11 Ashes tour berth, but also failed to make the England Performance Squad. 2012 is a big season for Adil if calls for him to be picked by England are to resurface.

JAMES BUTTLER
January 2012