Adil Rashid withdraws from Yorkshire squads as shoulder injury resurfaces

Adil Rashid has withdrawn from Yorkshire's Vitality Blast squads and been referred back to the ECB's medical staff after advising the club's medical staff that his shoulder injury is "the worst it has been this summer".

Rashid's shoulder issue was first made public when England's World Cup squad was announced, and was cited as a reason for the inclusion of Liam Dawson over Joe Denly.

While it was not sufficiently serious that it caused him to miss any World Cup games, Rashid revealed that he had needed an injection, and he said that his variations had caused him pain for much of the tournament.

"[I've] probably not bowled them as much," he said after the semi-final win against Australia. "The main reason was because of my shoulder because I've got a bit of a shoulder problem.

"But I knew that [the googly] is a big weapon for me, that's one of my big weapons, my variations, looking to create stuff. My shoulder had that little bit of problem and I know I still had to bowl it even if I was in a bit of a pain."

He had declared himself "100% fit" after the group stages, but has yet to return to action for Yorkshire amid concerns about the injury. It follows news that Mark Wood, another World Cup winner, has been ruled out for the rest of the season with the side injury he sustained in the final.

Rashid had been in Yorkshire's squad for Friday night's game against Worcestershire, but declared himself unfit after training on Thursday.

The legspinner's availability has previously been a source of contention, with Yorkshire unimpressed after he was given a Test recall last summer despite having signed a white-ball only contract with the club. However, he subsequently agreed It came as something of a surprise that Rashid a new all-formats deal for the 2019 season.

He was also handed an England central contract for both Test and white-ball cricket - although he has not played a Test since the first game of the West Indies tour, and appears to be behind Jack Leach in the pecking order.

This week, Martyn Moxon, Yorkshire's director of cricket, told the Yorkshire Post that there was "no guarantee" Rashid would play red-ball cricket for the club this season, and said they would assess his contract situation at the end of the year.

"Beyond that, what we've said is that we'll wait and see what England do with central contracts, and then we'll sit down with Adil once he knows what his England situation is with regards to potentially Test cricket going forward, and so on," Moxon said.

"We'll basically assess things once the England contract situation is resolved."

Yorkshire have also re-signed Keshav Maharaj, the South African left-arm spinner, until September 13. He will be available for the rest of the Blast, as well as Championship games against Nottinghamshire and Somerset.