England leg-spinner Adil Rashid has signed a fresh one-year contract with Yorkshire on Monday (September 23) and will be available to play in all formats for the Club in 2019.
The 30-year-old had been on only limited-overs contract with Yorkshire for the 2018 season and his future with the county had been in doubts after refusing to play four-day games for the club citing "lack of support" following his recall to the national Test team in July.
But, following the home series against India, national selector Ed Smith had made it clear that the players who want to play Tests for England will now have a red-ball contract in the county cricket.
Later, Rashid, who is the key member of England’s limited-overs side and having played four Tests against India, penned down a new one-year all-format deal with the White Rose County.
Director of Cricket, Martyn Moxon told Yorkshireccc.com about the latest development, “There’s been a lot of talk and speculation but Adil is a very valuable cricketer for us. Now he’s in the Test team, how much he’ll be available for us next season is unclear. But when he is available we’d be delighted to have him and for him to be part of what would hopefully be a successful summer. For now, it will just be for a year because it’s still not clear what career path he’s going to take.”
Moxon further added, “He’s back in the Test team and continues to do well, so we’ll see where that takes us. Obviously going into 2020 and with the new competition, players are waiting to see how that will affect contracts. I think for now it’s good to have the one year and see how the winter goes for Adil. We’ll probably have another look at it after the World Cup and see where he is, particularly with England and how much he’s involved with them. In the short-term it’s good to know when he’s available he’ll be playing for us.”
He further said that the club was really surprised with Rashid’s decision and happy to now have him for the Red-ball cricket. Moxon continued, “It was a big surprise that he wanted to play white ball only and asked us for a white-ball only contract. That changed very quickly and unexpectedly so that created a bit of confusion and instability for a little while. But I think we’ve been clear from the outset that we wanted to keep Adil at the club. When it became known he had to have a red-ball contract, we were more than happy to put that in place.”
Moxon signed off by saying, “He’s keen to stay here and has been here all his life. He’s in no mood to change that. We’re really pleased to keep him. We all know he’s a match winner for us. Leg-spin bowlers, wrist-spin bowlers are vital part of the game and that’s what we want from Adil, that potential to be a match-winner for us in all formats.”
