With chief selector Ed Smith having suggested that Adil Rashid could come back into England’s Test plans, former England captain and men’s director of cricket Andrew Strauss has entered the debate surrounding the leg-spinner’s long-form future.
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Speaking on Sky Sports Cricket during day two of the ongoing Test between England and Pakistan, Strauss argued that ODI and T20I regular Rashid could be worthy of consideration for the red-ball side in sub-continental conditions – this winter includes potential tours of Sri Lanka and India – but was not convinced of the Yorkshireman’s value on a tour of Australia.
Rashid – who currently only holds a white-ball county contract – has never played Test cricket in Australia; 13 of his 19 Test appearances have come in Asia, where he has taken 50 wickets at 39.28.
“Adil, in some ways, has been a victim of his own success in white-ball cricket,” said Strauss. “He’s been such a central pillar in England’s side. He’s played less and less red-ball cricket for Yorkshire and got to the stage where he wasn’t playing any red-ball cricket at all. As his white-ball skills have increased he hasn’t had the chance to play much red-ball cricket. I actually thought he did a pretty decent job when he played in India as the second spinner with Mo Ali. I think that’s an incredibly hard place for a leg-spinner to bowl and I think he did OK in that regard.
“You think about subcontinental cricket coming up, I would be tempted to have him in and around the squad occasionally. He’s not going to play in England, I can’t see how he’d get a gig as the No.1 spinner in England for the time being. I wouldn’t rule him out completely, unless Joe Root speaks to Adil and goes: ‘Are you up for this? Do you really want to do it? And he goes: ‘No, I’m actually OK with white-ball cricket.’ If he’s got that attitude then you probably don’t want to invest time and effort with him.
“We always think about Shane Warne and how effective he was in Australia. Australia is a very hard place to be a leg-spinner as your only spinner in the side, because what you need from the spinner in Australia is a spinner that can defend in the first innings and just bowl a few overs and tie things up, and occasionally comes into his own in the second innings.
“For me, I still see Adil Rashid as a second spinner mainly, with most of the work he will do for England in Test cricket probably on the sub-continent away from home in those conditions. Australia feels like a very tough ask for someone like Rashid.”
Even England’s leading spinners in recent years have found Ashes series Down Under tough going; off-spinner Graeme Swann averaged 52.59 in Australia compared to a career average of 29.96, while left-arm spinner Monty Panesar averaged 48.92 compared to a career average of 34.71.
