Watch out for Rashid
Adil Rashid's statistics from England's loss in the first ODI against Australia may not be earth shattering but the way he went about his game with his disciplined bowling and measured batting bodes well for English cricket, writes Stephen Brenkley
Siddhartha Talya
25-Feb-2013
Adil Rashid's statistics from England's loss in the first ODI against Australia may not be earth shattering but the way he went about his game with his disciplined bowling and measured batting bodes well for English cricket, writes Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday.
Rashid will be important for what he represents, of course, a kid of Asian background born in Bradford. He and Ravi Bopara, from the other end of the country, can be seminal figures in the development and evolution of Asian cricketers in the England team. Nasser Hussain, the finest of all England captains in the past 20 years, led the way, but things can be expected to change rapidly in the next decade.
Rashid is an unusual talent and has already achieved much by sealing his place as a regular in the Yorkshire side, says Vic Marks in the Observer. He also compares him to Monty Panesar, who he writes is a more mechanical bowler while Rashid is driven mainly by instinct.
The odds are that Rashid will replace Panesar in the Test squad this winter. It is certain that he will have more of a role in one-day cricket. He will experience similar pressures. Panesar was flavour of the month for a while for feature writers and was consequently endowed with qualities he did not possess. Now everyone seems to have lost interest.
Scyld Berry, writing in the Telegraph, tracks Rashid's journey from his time growing up in Bradford to becoming just the second regular legspinner to play for Yorkshire.
Siddhartha Talya is a senior sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo