England vs India: Geoffrey Boycott lashes out at Adil Rashid over his confused loyalties towards Test cricket

The England selectors shocked the cricketing world and went away with the basic precedent of English Cricket when they selected Adil Rashid in the 13-member squad for the first Test against India at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The leg-spinner who has done very well in white-ball cricket in the recent series against Australia and India earned a surprise recall to the Test side.

He was drafted in despite his decision to skip red-ball cricket for his county team, Yorkshire, earlier this year in February. Rashid is also a part of the playing XI in the ongoing Test match as the lone spinner of the English lineup. Meanwhile, former English cricketer Geoffrey Boycott voiced his opinion on Rashid’s controversial selection into red-ball cricket.

Rashid’s heart is not fully committed to play Test cricket

Boycott, who is currently recovering after undergoing a quadruple heart bypass surgery, mentioned that by selecting Rashid in the Test series, the selectors have announced that players will get to play Test cricket for England, even if they do not play four-day Championship Cricket.

He also noted that the possible reason for the leg-spinner’s inclusion could be the lack of options in the domestic circuit. The former cricketer was concerned about the future state of English cricket highlighting the lack of decent spinners in a such a large county system.

“By picking Adil Rashid, they are selecting the unselectable: a player who will not play four-day Championship cricket for Yorkshire because his heart isn’t in it but he will play for England in Test Matches. The only reason the head selector Ed Smith selected him is because there is no one else, and the fact that there are no decent spinners in county cricket is a shameful indictment on all the 18 counties,” Boycott wrote in his post for the Daily Telegraph.

Boycott also mentioned that Yorkshire should have taken the onus on themselves to handle the issue more professionally and take charge in a strict manner against Rashid’ s decision to skip red-ball cricket. He went on to say that decisions like these also put adverse effects on the behaviour of the rest of the players towards the English County system.

“At the start of the season Yorkshire had the chance to say to Rashid, ‘you play all forms of cricket or you can leave.’This is not setting the right example to our youngsters and we expect more loyalty, especially from a homegrown player. Sadly, Yorkshire didn’t have the balls to do that,” the former cricketer added.

Rashid looks to be a ‘spoilt brat’

The former England batsman also lashed out at Rashid for his reckless attitude and questioned his loyalty towards his county. He noted that the leg-spinner just wants to play freely without any hindrances in the one-day tournaments and then also in the England Test team.

Boycott noted an important concern that Rashid has not played four-day games for Yorkshire since a long time and now will also miss the games in the ongoing T20 Blast, because of his selection in the Test matches.

“Loyalty works two ways but it appears Adil wants to be free to play anywhere in the world there is a one-day tournament that pays him big bucks. It makes him look like a spoilt brat. Not only has he put two fingers up to Yorkshire by not playing four-day cricket, Adil is now not available for Yorkshire’s Twenty20 matches.

He still doesn’t get it that he won’t play for Yorkshire but will play for England and thinks Yorkshire should be thrilled for him,” the 77-year old England batsman concluded.

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