Adil Rashid

Adil Usman Rashid (born 17 February 1988, Bradford, West Yorkshire) is an English cricketer who plays for Yorkshire. Previously a player with England Under-19s, in December 2008, he was called into the full England Test squad, for the Test matches to be played in India. He was then selected for the full tour of the West Indies. He made his Test debut on 13 October 2015 against Pakistan in the UAE.

As a leg spinner, Rashid received coaching from Terry Jenner as part of an ECB programme to encourage wrist-spinners.

Rashid is only the third Yorkshire-born Asian to play first-team cricket for Yorkshire, and the first of Pakistani origin. In 2006, ECB bowling coach David Parsons considered him the most talented young leg-spinner in the country.

Background

Rashid was born in Bradford and is of Pakistani background. Like his England teammate Moeen Ali, he belongs to the Mirpuri community, his family having migrated to England in 1967 from Mirpur, Azad Kashmir.

Career

Early promise

Rashid showed promise from a young age: Jenner spotted him as a 14-year-old, and, in early July 2005, aged 17, he took 6–13 for Yorkshire's Academy (youth) team. A few days later he hit 111 for Yorkshire Cricket Board Under-17s against their Cheshire equivalents in the Under-17s County Championship.