Exclusive: Rashid backed to make his mark

NATIONAL selector Geoff Miller has defended England's handling of Adil Rashid following a disappointing winter for the Yorkshire leg-spinner.

Rashid has dropped down the pecking order after losing his place in England's one-day side and being overlooked for the tour of Bangladesh, where James Tredwell was preferred as Graeme Swann's understudy.

Yorkshire believe Rashid, 22, has been poorly treated by the England management and thrown in at the deep end before he is ready.

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The club's bowling coach Steve Oldham told the Yorkshire Post last month: "I think his treatment has been pathetic. They have picked him the last two winters and traipsed him around the West Indies and Africa just to carry drinks trays.

"I think he has been handled terribly and he has got that many people in his ear about bowling it's ridiculous.

"He should have been left to play county cricket for the next three or four years and then we could say, 'Look, he's ready now.' It's ridiculous what they are doing to him." But Miller insists England have managed Rashid sensibly.

He believes the player benefited from his first taste of touring in 2008-09 – despite only ferrying drinks in India and the West Indies – and insists he has learned from working closely with England spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed, one of those Oldham believes has been "in his ear".

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"Adil wasn't brought into the England set-up too soon," said Miller.

"We saw the talent was there and spin bowling was an area we were looking at closely.

"We felt he needed to learn as quickly as possible and you do that by talking to senior pros and finding out what international cricket is all about.

"Adil is a young man with time on his hands and what he's going through now is just a learning process.

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"He's done a lot of work with Mushtaq Ahmed and you can't get a better mentor as an international leg-spinner.

"Mushtaq has put him on the right lines and I've no doubt Adil will become an excellent international cricketer in the years to come." Miller, nevertheless sympathised with Yorkshire's concerns.

"In my job you always get criticism and I fully understand the way Yorkshire feel Adil should have been treated," he added.

"I know Steve Oldham inside out. We were together at Derbyshire and I know what he's talking about and I know what he feels. We agree on certain areas and disagree on others. It's all about trying to strike the right balance." Yorkshire and England now seem in agreement Rashid needs to be playing as much cricket as possible.

"What Adil needs now is middle work," added Miller.

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"We've done all we can with him from a net point of view and the teaching of leg-spin through Mushtaq Ahmed.

"Now he needs time in the middle to put everything into practice.

"Ideally, we'd have liked him to have been bowling regularly for England, but that hasn't been possible.

"If someone forces their way into the team and leapfrogs him, as has happened this winter, then that's obviously a disappointment for him.

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"But Adil knows the situation, he knows he's got to perform consistently and I'm sure he'll do that for Yorkshire." As well as monitoring Rashid's development, England are keeping close tabs on Ajmal Shahzad, the Yorkshire pace bowler who got his first taste of international cricket in Bangladesh.

"The feedback we had on Ajmal in Bangladesh was good," said Miller. "There's still a long way to go but he's coming on well. Again, it's all about the learning process – finding out how good you've got to be as an international cricketer.

"Ajmal might not be immediately next in line, but he's a little bit further up the ladder than he would have been if he hadn't gone to Bangladesh because he now knows what is required.

"It was the same with Adil when he first came into the England set-up." One of the stars of the Bangladesh tour was Yorkshire's Tim Bresnan.

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"Tim did really well – it was a great learning curve for him," added Miller. "Conditions were very tough for seamers – it was 100 degrees and the pitches were flat – but he found ways of utilising the old ball, his stamina was good and he also batted well.

"What Tim has to do is repeat that against all kinds of opposition on all kinds of surfaces." Miller was speaking at Olicanian Cricket Club in Ilkley where he lent his support to the club's new 60,000 pavilion extension.

The bulk of the cash is coming from a 25,000 grant from Yorventure from funds generated by Yorwaste Ltd via operations at the Skibeben landfill site at Skipton.