- published: 22 Jan 2016
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Adil Usman Rashid (born 17 February 1988, Bradford, West Yorkshire) is an English cricketer of Pakistani origins, 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.
Rashid is an all rounder, although as an English leg spin bowler (a rarity in modern first class cricket), it is his bowling that has attracted particular attention. He has already taken more than 100 first-class wickets and has 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.
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.