A tale of two leg-spinners
Chris Schofield has been selected for both England Lions' ODI side to play India and the Twenty20 squad - quite a remarkable turnaround for a guy who struggled so publicly to find a county willing to give him a contract. One can only admire his guts for getting back into consideration. But what were the selectors thinking?!!
Schofield has done well in Twenty20 this season - he took 17 wickets. This seems to have been used as justification to bring him into the Twenty20 side, but international cricketers around the world must be licking their lips. I dread to think what will happen if Schofield has to bowl at Matthew Hayden, Ricky Ponting or Andrew Symonds. I feel sorry for Paul Collingwood who may have the problem of finding a "suitable" time to bowl him. I will of course be happy to admit it when Schofield wins the Twenty20 World Cup for England!!
Adil Rashid on the other hand, has not been selected for either squad - not surprisingly in the case of the Twenty20 squad, but perhaps more surprisingly in the case of the Lions team. Rashid struggled against the class of Tendulkar last time out for the Lions in a 3 day game but I hope he gets another chance. Joe Denly, who did well in that game, is another to miss out and there really can be no rationale to support that - it's simply a case of inconsistent selection policy.
3 comments:
Isn't that a little short-sighted? Advocating Adil Rashid but not Chris Schofield is surely a view that does not take account of Schofield's previous foray into the England fold.
Schofield was selected for, played in, and was dumped from the Test team aged a good 2 years more than Rashid is now. What is to say that the foresight that identified Schofield and picked him early is going to be any more fruitful with Rashid?
Rashid is being managed very well, I believe, by being allowed to play as much for Yorkshire as possible in the Championship, instead of being sent off to play pointless games for England U19 or the Lions. He should continue to learn how to win games and bowl in different situations with Yorkshire, and also to continue to improve his batting. If, and only if, he has proven his ability time and again as a consistent performer will he have the confidence to take his game to the top level.
I would pick him for the Lions winter tour, and then as the second spinner in the Test team to India in 2008/09.
Believe me, I'm not suggesting that Rashid is the answer to England's problems - only exceptional players improve much between when they play their first full season of county cricket. Rashid isn't good enough now, and therefore isn't likely to be in future - I hope I'm proved wrong.
But the real point was about selection consistency - I agree that Rashid should be handled carefully, so why play him for the Lions 3-day team against some of the best players of spin in the world, and then drop him for the ODI team, damaging his confidence? They should have been consistent and picked Rashid ahead of Schofield, having selected him earlier in the season.
The alternative would have been not to pick him for the Lions at all - but to be inconsistent in selection damages player confidence and chances of ultimate success...
As England have found to their cost in recent years, ODI cricket is very different from 3/4/5 day cricket (ask Vaughan). Maybe they felt Rashid was a good bet for a 3 day game, but not limited overs at the moment, in which case it's not inconsistent, just horses for courses.
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