Adil Rashid targeting 2023 World Cup if troublesome shoulder continues to strengthen

Rashid fought against the persistent problem through the 2019 competition and played a key role in England’s successful campaign

Adil Rashid has set himself the aim of representing England in the 2023 World Cup in India, provided that his troublesome shoulder continues to get stronger.

Rashid fought against the issue through the 2019 competition and played a key role in England’s successful campaign. He will turn 35 midway through the 2023 tournament.

In February, well before the coronavirus outbreak changed the face of this cricketing summer, Rashid had announced that he would only play white-ball cricket ahead of October’s T20 World Cup in order to manage his shoulder’s workload.

He added then that he still had ambitions of playing Test cricket once again, having last played in a heavy defeat against West Indies in January 2019.

“My aim is to play for England as long as possible,” he told a group of journalists, via a Zoom press conference. “We don’t know how long that could be – months, years, or whatever it is.

“I have a vision in terms of maybe achieving that, the 2023 World Cup would be lovely. Another World Cup would be nice. That’s a long way away and a lot can happen in three years in terms of performance, injuries, people coming in and out, but that’s something that I would love to do again. If I stay fit, if my shoulder gets stronger then I can hopefully play for a long time.”

In three T20Is and a single ODI appearance against South Africa in February, the Yorkshire leg-spinner looked somewhere close to his best, with his shoulder seemingly looking more comfortable than it had done during England’s tour of New Zealand at the start of the winter and through the preceding summer.

^{Adil Rashid played a key role in England's World Cup win}

“It’s getting better,” he explained. “South Africa was a big turning point for me, because as soon as I came back from New Zealand I had a month-and-a-half off before South Africa. In that time, I worked hard on my shoulder and that paid off, because I’ve seen a big, big difference in my bowling.

“In South Africa, the shoulder was stronger, a lot better, I was bowling as quickly as I’ve bowled in my career, so I was seeing a big difference.”

Rashid also reiterated that he would consider returning to longer format cricket in the future, should his shoulder feel “100 per cent and I feel I can get back into red-ball”. That said, he admitted it had probably been “a few months” since he had last discussed his Test ambitions with Joe Root – he last appeared in the County Championship in 2017.

Because of his white-ball deal with Yorkshire, his first game of the summer would only have taken place at the end of May in any case, with the beginning of the T20 Blast – the Royal London Cup has this year been pushed towards the back end of the campaign to coincide with The Hundred. Had the pandemic not caused its indefinite delay, Rashid would only now be starting to bowl, having beforehand been focused on his gym work.

“Now is a good time to do gym because I’m not playing any cricket,” he said. “It’s going well, I’m looking to get stronger and hopefully when the time comes to play cricket the shoulder is as strong as it’s ever been.”

He credits Eoin Morgan with helping him to get through the World Cup. “He knew the shoulder wasn’t great, but he kept on backing me,” he added.

“I had a couple of injections in my shoulder and wasn’t 100% fit, but my mindset was wanting to play and help the team. Morgs has been top drawer for me.

“If my shoulder wasn’t 100 per cent, I went in there with a strong mindset and did a decent job, that shows when I am 100 per cent everything else will hopefully work out better.”

To remind ourselves of happier times we're offering a £20.19 subscription to celebrate England's World Cup win once again. Click here to take claim

Subscribe to The Cricketer for exclusive content every day: The inside track on England's Test tour with George Dobell in Pakistan, award-winning analysis, breaking news and interviews and the only place for in-depth county coverage all year round. Plus: An ad-free app experience at your fingertips. Subscribe to thecricketer.com today for just £1.