England tempted to pick Adil Rashid for the 4th Test against Pakistan

England is currently leading the 4-match Test series 2-1 against Pakistan, with a match to go. Leg-spinner Adil Rashid is around the squad for quite some time now and might get an opportunity in The Oval Test. During the last Ashes series, Nathan Lyon of Australia had a good outing at The Oval picking up 4 wickets.

Replying to a query on whether England is tempted to pick Rashid for the fourth Test, coach Trevor Bayliss replied: “Very. We saw last year at The Oval, the wicket had a bit in it for everyone. Lyon bowled very well there, got some spin and bounce.”

“I’ve thought Rashid’s been a chance for the last two or three Tests that we’ve played. At some stage, he will get an opportunity.”

Moeen Ali has played his role as an all-rounder in the last match with valuable wickets with his off-spin and batted well along with Jonny Bairstow, which helped England to pile on the lead. “Quite simply, the difference with his bowling in that spell was his discipline of length,” said Bayliss.

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“We’ve all seen him before probably falling a little bit short, but I thought that spell he got it pretty much spot on, bowled a little bit wider of the off stump into the rough, coming into the stumps and putting the pressure on the batter. It’s a bit harder (then) to run down the wicket and hit over the top and play reverse-sweeps and sweeps. I thought he put the pressure on very well there,” he added.

Talking about the incident that included James Anderson and the on-field umpires, where he was initially warned about straying into the ‘danger area’, and later Anderson apologized for what he admitted was “unacceptable behavior”, Bayliss feels that the fast bowler had sorted out the problem himself.

“I think he did sort it out himself. In the heat of the moment… he is a competitor, and I think you need guys on your team like that. If he slightly touched the line or went over the line, we fixed it up pretty quickly – and everything was sweet with the umpires. He’s been around enough now to know when he has maybe transgressed a little too far, and to pull his head in pretty quick,” he signed-off.

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