Look, if you weren’t fully paying attention, that’s excusable on this occasion.
England were 2-0 up and well on their way to winning the third, with Sri Lanka eight down and needing 110 off 23 balls. A long shot, in other words. The action has been far from gripping throughout the series in any case, and with the Euros back, and apparently some rugby on too, even the most dedicated of diehards can be forgiving for indulging in some channel-hopping and sticking with what grabbed them.
Maybe it’s that that explains the collective shrugging of shoulders, the entire absence of awe at something quite remarkable which happened towards the end of the final game of what will surely be a quickly forgotten series. Adil Rashid bowled a ball at 73mph. That’s not a typo. Off his usual run-up, Rashid trotted up and hurled down a short-ish seam-up sizzler. A dot ball, but so much more.
There are, as far as Wisden.com can tell, no clips of this moment circulating on social media. It didn’t make the highlights packages, disappearing into the ether almost as quickly as it was bowled. Two balls later, something else almost as extraordinary happened, with Rashid hit for a vanishingly rare boundary. It was the first four he had conceded all series, and it came 13 balls before the game was wrapped up entirely.
It’s worth pausing to consider just how quick 73mph is (117kph if you want to go metric). It’s faster than an average Darren Stevens delivery, a fact that hasn’t stopped the 45 year old becoming county cricket’s premier all-rounder and securing an endless stream of one-year contract extensions. It’s about the pace at which Ravi Bopara operated, cementing him as England’s go-to first-change bowler in ODIs less than a decade ago.
Admittedly, it’s not quite unheard of for a spinner to bowl that quickly. Marlon Samuels’ quicker balls would often get up there, though his action regularly came under scrutiny too. Shahid Afridi too had a rapid faster one, but then he was a fire-it-in, flat leggie. Rashid, generally, is one of the slowest on the circuit. This was a proper bolt from the blue.
Does it mean much, in the grand scheme? Perhaps not. This was just one delivery; it remains to be seen if Rashid unveils it more regularly. The lack of pressure in this game gave license to experiment, and maybe the fact that England’s seamers had been so successful and omnipresent – the game marked the first occasion in which the fifth bowler was introduced only after the first four had all been bowled out – meant Rashid wanted to get in on the act.
Still, it says something about Rashid, about the current confidence coursing through him, and about his fitness too. Not long ago, his problematic right shoulder forced him to essentially shelve his googly throughout an entire World Cup campaign. Now he’s got enough faith to fire it in at Darren Sammy pace. This series showed him once more as a master of his craft, with four wickets in the first two games accounting for arguably Sri Lanka’s two most dangerous players – Kusal Perera and Wanindu Hasaranga – twice each. The boundary he conceded two balls after the much quicker ball was the first he had conceded in the series, in his ninth over.
Last year, speaking to Wisden.com, Eoin Morgan lavished praise on Rashid, describing him as “one of the best variation bowlers in the world right now” and specifically referencing his ability to bowl a little bit quicker.
“If you look at Adil’s bowling, the pace that he bowls at just gives him an extra skill. He was world class before this, and now it’s taken him probably above everybody else with the extra variation. He’s almost a couple of different variation bowlers in one. I suppose one extreme is the pace at which Parky [Matt Parkinson] bowls and then the pace at which Rashid Khan bowls at. I think Adil can cover both ends and in between as well, and that doesn’t just come about; It comes with being comfortable about your game, being comfortable to bowl these different variations at different times, at different paces. And having the ability to do it as well.”
Now Rashid has added yet another weapon to his armoury. It’s at least worth talking about.
