Adil Rashid is staying at Yorkshire for the time being, but with The Hundred about to make its entrance into English cricket, no county is confident what the future holds
David Hopps24-Sep-2018Adil Rashid has signed a new deal at Yorkshire – but it is only for one year while club and player see how his career develops and while uncertainty reigns over the envisaged new format, The Hundred, which is due to make its entrance in 2020.The somewhat guarded agreement reflects not just lingering qualms between player and club, but also the fact that the introduction of a new eight-team format into England’s summer has thrown the county game into an age of uncertainty.There are too many unanswered questions about the future structure of the county game for any club to plan with certainty and Yorkshire, aware that their financial position remains precarious, are as wary as anybody.Rashid’s new contract – which can fairly be viewed a a provisional solution which states good intentions on both sides – means Rashid will again make himself available for all forms of the game, in line with the ECB’s new stipulation that in future any white-ball only deal would have excluded Rashid from selection for Test cricket.Rashid, who has been at Yorkshire for 12 years, renegotiated his club contract at the start of the year so that he was only involved in one-day formats and it remains to be seen whether his commitment to red-ball cricket extends much beyond his natural pride about breaking into England’s Test side.Despite that he was selected for England’s recent summer Test series against India, playing all five Tests in a 4-1 victory. He has been selected for the pre-Christmas tour to Sri Lanka and he will hope good form for Yorkshire can strengthen his claim for next summer’s home Ashes.”There’s been a lot of talk and speculation but Adil is a very valuable cricketer for us,” said Director of Cricket Martyn Moxon.”Now he’s in the Test team, how much he’ll be available for us next season is unclear. But when he is available we’d be delighted to have him and for him to be part of what would hopefully be a successful summer.”For now, it will just be for a year because it’s still not clear what career path he’s going to take. He’s back in the Test team and continues to do well, so we’ll see where that takes us. Obviously going into 2020 and with the new competition, players are waiting to see how that will affect contracts.”I think for now it’s good to have the one year and see how the winter goes for Adil. We’ll probably have another look at it after the World Cup and see where he is, particularly with England and how much he’s involved with them. In the short-term it’s good to know when he’s available he’ll be playing for us.”Rashid, who took six wickets on his Championship debut for Yorkshire as a teenager in 2006, has taken 500 First-Class wickets at an average of 34.98. All of his 10 hundreds have come for the White Rose. In all T20 cricket, at international and domestic level, he has taken 178 wickets and scored 677 runs. In the one-day arena, he has returned 255 wickets and 1,584 runs.Rashid, who took 10 wickets for 50 runs in seven Championship matches in 2017, was recently told by national selector Ed Smith that he must be available across the board from the start of next summer to be considered for Test cricket.Moxon continued: “It was a big surprise that he wanted to play white ball only and asked us for a white-ball only contract. That changed very quickly and unexpectedly so that created a bit of confusion and instability for a little while.”But I think we’ve been clear from the outset that we wanted to keep Adil at the club. When it became known he had to have a red-ball contract, we were more than happy to put that in place.”Speaking to Adil he’s keen to stay here and has been here all his life. He’s in no mood to change that. We’re really pleased to keep him. We all know he’s a matchwinner for us. Leg-spin bowlers, wrist-spin bowlers are vital part of the game and that’s what we want from Adil, that potential to be a matchwinner for us in all formats.”Nevertheless, complications remain. Rashid and Andrew Gale, Yorkshire’s head coach, have had a tense relationship and it remains to be seen whether clear-the-air talks will lead to a stronger bond in 2019.Yorkshire have also signed Josh Poysden, another legspinner, from Warwickshire, in the belief at the time that Rashid would not be playing Championship cricket. That is now very much dependent upon how successfully his England career develops.
