Adil Rashid, the Yorkshire leg-spinner, will enter England’s thinking for the fourth Test against Pakistan at The Oval on Thursday, as the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, ponders the side’s options before the winter tours to Bangladesh and India.
Bayliss has long spoken about his desire to utilise two spinners in the longest form but during his 12 months in charge has done so only during the series defeat to Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates late last year, when conditions made it a given and Moeen Ali played as an opening batsman to allow the extra bowler.
England play seven Tests in the subcontinent before Christmas– two in Bangladesh, subject to security clearance, and five in India – but Rashid may yet come into the mix sooner should the Oval pitch prepared by Surrey’s head groundsman, Lee Fortis, be similar to the one for last year’s fifth Ashes Test, when Australia picked up a consolation win and the off-spinner Nathan Lyon claimed four wickets in the match.
Speaking after the 141-run win at Edgbaston that puts England 2-1 up going into the final Test of the summer, Bayliss admitted he was very tempted to give the 28-year-old Rashid a game, adding: “I think we saw last year, the Oval wicket had a bit in it for everyone. Lyon bowled very well there and got some spin and bounce.
“I’ve thought Rashid’s been a chance for the last two or three Tests. At some stage he will get an opportunity. Obviously, we are going to the subcontinent, so he’s probably the guy who will get the first opportunity there. And having a leg-spinner will help when the wicket is turning – we can knock over the tail a bit easier.”
Rashid, who on debut last October claimed second-innings figures of five for 65 in the drawn first Test with Pakistan in Abu Dhabi, gives England an option of turning the ball away from Pakistan’s glut of right-handers but would only come into the side for a seamer – Steven Finn, based on the current pecking order – with Bayliss impressed by Moeen, his first-choice spinner, during his most recent performance with the ball.
The 29-year-old was man of the match at Edgbaston, chiefly for scores of 63 and 86 not out with the bat but he also claimed two for 49 from 17.5 overs during Pakistan’s fourth-innings collapse as, for the first time in six Tests against Misbah-ul-Haq’s side, his control allowed Alastair Cook to rotate the seam bowlers.
Bayliss said: “The difference in that spell was his discipline of length. We’ve all seen him before probably falling a bit short, but I thought that spell he got it pretty much spot on. He bowled a little bit wider of off stump into the rough, coming into the stumps and putting the pressure on the batter. It’s a bit harder to run down the wicket and hit over the top and play reverse sweeps and sweeps. I thought he put the pressure on very well there.”
After travelling from Birmingham to London on Monday, the unchanged 13-man England squad will practise at The Oval on Tuesday afternoon before the top seven batsmen go out for dinner with David Gower. The former captain and current Sky commentator, who scored 8,231 runs in 117 Tests, is the latest former player brought into the fold to share his experience of international cricket.
England have opted not to respond to suggestions from the Pakistan television channel PTV that they were ball-tampering during the last day of the Edgbaston Test. Dr Nauman Niaz, who presents the network’s Game on Hai programme, focused on footage of Joe Root and Jimmy Anderson polishing the ball when discussing the home side’s display of reverse swing bowling.
