Twenty20 thrillers enough to rekindle Rashid

It also deprived Adil Rashid of the opportunity to continue his encouraging form in the crash-bang-wallop, the leg-spinner having played a key role in the victories over Worcestershire and Lancashire that got Yorkshire’s campaign up-and-running after they began the tournament with two straight defeats.

Rashid’s performances were a timely boost for player and club, the 23-year-old having served up a mixed bag during the first half of the season.

The England Lions’ star has struggled for consistency but showed last week he could now be starting to come into his own.

A return of 3-19 from four overs against Worcestershire at Headingley last Thursday helped Yorkshire achieve a two-run success.

Rashid followed up with 2-29 from four overs against Lancashire at Old Trafford 24 hours later as Yorkshire beat their arch rivals by two wickets with two balls to spare.

Such figures represented a welcome improvement on recent efforts.

In his previous two games before the Twenty20 started, away to Somerset and Sussex in the Championship, Rashid recorded successive analyses of 10.1-0-88-0 and 35.4-2-187-0 – the latter return at Hove the third-most expensive in Yorkshire’s history.

Rashid, however, is a mercurial customer.

One never quite knows what one is going to get from one day to the next.

At Taunton and Hove, he was well below his best.

But at Headingley and Old Trafford, he was bang on the money and looked every inch a world-class performer in waiting.

Although Rashid has shown only flashes of his best this season, the facts show he is still Yorkshire’s leading wicket-taker in all competitions.

He has captured 28 in the Championship at 33.78, 10 in the CB40 at 17.90 and nine in the Twenty20 at 13.00, although his Championship stats were massaged to a large degree by a haul of 11-114 in the opening game at Worcestershire.

Nevertheless, such statistics show why Yorkshire are always loath to leave him out – even when he is experiencing a poor run of form.

For Rashid is always capable of winning a game – often when you least expect it and with no apparent warning a quality performance is just around the corner.

Indeed, there would seem no obvious sign when Rashid is going to bowl well or going to bowl poorly, meaning he is a fascinating cricketer to watch but, one suspects, a frustrating one to manage.

All Yorkshire can do is try to support him and encourage him to find that added ingredient of consistency, which remains vital to his hopes of a long and successful international career.

There is no greater admirer of Rashid than Martyn Moxon, the county’s director of professional cricket.

Moxon views the player as a huge asset in every department and is backing him to hit top form during the second half of the season.

Moxon also recognises that half the battle with Rashid is trying to bolster the player’s esteem.

For Rashid is the sort of cricketer who is invariably at his best when he believes in his ability to perform well.

“Adil is very much a confidence cricketer,” said Moxon. “When he’s on top of his game, he’s absolutely awesome.

“Other times, when he’s just not feeling quite right and it’s not coming out quite right, he can lose confidence quickly.

“I guess that’s the nature of the beast, so to speak.

“When Adil’s bowling well, I always think he’s got a lovely arc and trajectory to his bowling.

“The ball goes up before it starts to drop and that’s always the best sign for me.

“When he hasn’t quite got the confidence, the ball comes out flatter from his hand and that’s when it starts to drop a bit short.

“It’s all about finding that rhythm with his bowling.”

The arc and trajectory to which Moxon referred were clearly evident during the last two Twenty20 games.

Watching from side-on at Old Trafford, it was noticeable how Rashid bowled a much fuller length even though the batsmen were trying to plunder quick runs.

At Taunton and Hove, Rashid appeared to push the ball through too quickly in an effort to stop the batsmen scoring. Instead of restricting the runs, however, Rashid succeeded only in facilitating them as the ball came out flatter from his hand and dropped shorter.

“When he’s on song, Adil is a brilliant performer,” added Moxon.

“He’s a very good fielder, a more than capable batsman and a highly-talented, wicket-taking bowler.

“Hopefully, he can further his confidence during the next few weeks and then I think we’ll start to see the best of him.

“He can have a huge role to play for the rest of the season.”