England leg-spinner Adil Rashid has signed a new one-year all-format contract with English County side Yorkshire, the team announced on Monday (September 24).
At the start of the year, Rashid had renegotiated his contract with the side and made himself available only for white-ball cricket.
However, he was called up for England’s five-match Test series against India despite having not played a red-ball game for Yorkshire all season and ended up playing in all Tests as the hosts won the series 4-1.
“There’s been a lot of talk and speculation but Adil is a very valuable cricketer for us,” said Yorkshire’s Director of Cricket Martyn Moxon told the team’s official website.
“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. 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.
Rashid’s recall to the Test side had drawn plenty of criticism from many quarters. However, his decision was likely prompted by England’s chief of selector Ed Smith’s comments that only players who played county cricket would be considered for the Test team in 2019.
“Adil fully understands that if he wishes to be eligible for Test cricket in the 2019 season, he must have a county contract to play four-day cricket. Moving forward, England Test players must be committed to the county championship,” Smith had said after Rashid was called up for the first Test.
Rashid has taken 500 First-Class wickets at an average of 34.98 and has also scored 10 hundreds. He made his Test debut against Pakistan in UAE and has been capped 15 times internationally.