Ashes not on Adil Rashid’s mind as England plot path to T20 World Cup | England cricket team

The way the ball is coming out of Adil Rashid’s hand this summer – those gyroscopic leg-breaks and googlies still so utterly seductive – there is a case for Ben Stokes to flick him a WhatsApp that simply reads: “Ashes?”

It was enough to persuade Rashid’s best friend, Moeen Ali, to return to the fray back in 2023, an SOS answered initially with an LOL. Looking ahead to the Ashes tour this winter, Rashid, even aged 37 and having not fizzed down a red ball for six years (no barrier these days), would surely enhance the squad.

For a start, Rashid is unquestionably the finest leg-spinner England have produced in the past 50 years: a stellar career spanning nearly two decades that has returned 512 first-class wickets, 427 in international cricket, and delivered two World Cup wins along the way. Oh, and an MBE.

To watch Rashid bowl to South Africa during the recent one-day internationals was to take in a master at work – utter control of a skill that takes years to perfect. It would be very English were Rashid to retire on 19 Test caps without a single one won in Australia – the scene of debuts of Scott Borthwick and Mason Crane in recent times – however much white-ball specialism has been his choice.

While Liam Dawson played a one-off Test match this summer, there has been little to suggest that Shoaib Bashir does not remain the first-choice spinner for Australia. Brendon McCullum recently spoke of needing overspin on their pitches, a nod to the fast-tracking of the 21-year-old these past 18 months.

But, if nothing else, Rashid would offer a point of difference in reserve: a possible contender for the pink-ball Test – he is difficult enough to pick in daylight hours – and perhaps Sydney should its traditional characteristics return. Either way, Bashir would have a seasoned spin twin and mentor.

All this is “what if” stuff, sadly. There has been no suggestion from England that he is in the frame and it may be that, for the tactical reasons given above, Rehan Ahmed gets the nod. The youngster has been in great form this summer, it should be said, not least with bat in hand.

Asked on Tuesday about his hypothetical reply to a similar message from Stokes, training in Cardiff a day out from the first of three Twenty20 internationals against the Proteas, Rashid replied: “It would be a no.

“I’m quite comfortable and confident of what I have been doing in the past [six] years or when I finished red-ball cricket. I’m confident in that and my own game. But I’m sure it wouldn’t come to that, because the spinners coming through now are very good and when they go there they’ll put good performances in as well. So I’m confident they’ve got it sorted.”

Perhaps this is for the best. After all, as much as Ashes chat has begun in earnest – McCullum dubbing it “the series of our lives” piqued interest in Australian circles overnight – there is a second challenge for England this winter: the T20 World Cup in India next February and March. Rashid, ranked second in the bowling rankings in this format, will again be key.

However much it feels like the international summer has tapered off, this three-match series against South Africa represents the start of a focused buildup towards that tournament, one that takes England’s white-ballers to Ireland, New Zealand and then Sri Lanka in preparation.

Finalists in 2024 – they might have won, but for Jasprit Bumrah’s shutdown in Bridgetown – the Proteas have stumbled of late. A record of seven wins, 12 defeats since is in part due to the retirements of Quinton de Kock and Heinrich Klaasen but there is serious talent coming through.

For England, ranked third, the ledger during the same period reads won eight, lost six – albeit with six of those wins coming against West Indies. They are without two rested Test players in Ben Duckett and Jamie Smith and it is Dawson, not Ahmed, who will partner Rashid for the opener.

After a struggle for his part-timers during the 2-1 defeat in the ODIs, Harry Brook will at least have an extra bowler to call upon with Sam Curran an option beyond Jacob Bethell and Will Jacks. This will be Curran’s first outing since McCullum took over the white-ball side at the start of the year, the coach believing his game to have tailed off for a time previously.

While Curran benefits from Duckett’s need for a breather – McCullum takes one himself during the Ireland tour – the Ashes bubble-wrap is yet to come out for Jofra Archer. Fresh from a fiery match-winning burst in Southampton, he will play his fourth England game on the bounce.

“The main thing is getting into winning habits,” added Rashid, while confirming his personal desire to play on for as long as possible. The Test side may not be picking the country’s greatest modern leg-spinner but the world’s white-ball batting lineups will still have to.