Adil And Azeem

It is most regrettable to hear that Azeem Rafiq and Yorkshire CCC will be parting company at the end of the summer. I suspect that maybe five years down the line, Azeem might return to his native county. In the mean time there should be no shortage of top counties seeking his assistance, as young Rafiq is a talented all-rounder who possesses a particular flair for limited overs cricket, especially the Twenty20 variety.

Rafiq and the county are divorcing on amicable terms, which is good, although it is likely that Rafiq demanded or at least hoped to be upgraded to the first eleven, and his departure confirms his exasperation at no such opportunity being forthcoming.

A large reason why Azeem will be packing his belongings is that Yorkshire have clearly decided that the spin bowling future revolves around Adil Rashid. There is perhaps a growing justification in the county's faith in Rashid. Not only has he made great strides with the bat in the last couple of years, but his bowling has been very effective in recent weeks, after incurring a disappointing start to the season. Now Adil is bowling with greater control and economy as well as retaining his knack of producing a higher than average percentage of wicket-taking deliveries. Rashid's bowling has improved so much in recent weeks that his current first-class average is below thirty and compares favourably with Lancashire's prodigy, Simon Kerrigan.

Therefore, even allowing for the inflated presence of Yorkshire players in the current England team, I think that one can make a strong case for Adil's inclusion in the England tour party for the test series in the West Indies next spring. Although Rashid hasn't been running through batting orders (primarily because his seam bowling colleagues have already made considerable inroads) but he has a knack of blowing away tailenders, whose inadequate batting techniques are cruelly exposed by Adil's varied repertoire. It's his talent for wiping out irksome tailenders that ought to render Mr Rashid an asset to the national team. God knows that such qualities would come in rather useful against the resolute Australians next summer.