Adil Rashid

Adil Rashid did much to set right English cricket's troubled relationship with legspin when he established himself as the country's leading white-ball spinner in 2015 and four years later was a key part of their World Cup-winning side. At the time of Rashid's recall to the limited-overs set-up in 2015, no legspinner had taken more than five white-ball wickets for England; over the next ten years he took more than 300.

Born in Bradford, he became the third Yorkshire-born player of Asian extraction to represent the county in 2006, taking 6 for 67 on debut against Warwickshire. In 2008, he earned call-ups as a back-up player on Test tours to India and the Caribbean after taking 62 Championship wickets.

He made his international debut in 2009 during the World T20, playing in all four of England's games, but had a chastening time on the tour to South Africa the following winter: his only over in the T20I series cost 25 runs and his three overs in an ODI in Centurion were taken for 27.

Rashid's county progress was mixed over the next few years but in his mid-20s, he became a more prolific run-scorer, and he thrived with Jason Gillespie as his head coach at Yorkshire, who later took him to Adelaide Strikers in the BBL. For England, he was part of the side that reached the final of the 2016 World T20 and the semi-final of the 2017 Champions Trophy, and he took 11 wickets in their 2019 World Cup win. His success in the limited-overs game owed much to his variations - and his wicked googly in particular.

He got his Test debut in 2015 against Pakistan, and took 60 wickets in 19 matches in all, but often struggled for control, averaging over 28 overall. His introduction to the format was brutal: he returned 0 for 163 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in 2015, but his 5 for 64 in the second innings demonstrated why England had been so keen to turn him into a red-ball bowler. He was their leading wicket-taker in India in 2016-17 with 23 - 13 more than anyone else - but averaged the wrong side of 35 and leaked runs.

Months after signing a white-ball-only contract with Yorkshire, Rashid was controversially handed a Test recall for the home series against India by chief selector Ed Smith. He took ten wickets in the series before forming part of a spin trio with Moeen Ali and Jack Leach during England's 3-0 win in Sri Lanka, but after an expensive Test in the Caribbean in early 2019, he was left out for good.

He remained arguably the pre-eminent asset in England's rebooted white-ball team, and despite a long-standing shoulder issue that has required constant monitoring, in 2022 he added the T20 World Cup crown to the 50-over title from 2019. His displays at the sharp end of that competition in Australia epitomised his value - a combined return of 4 for 58 in his final 12 overs of the tournament, including 2 for 22 in the final against Pakistan.

In 2024, Rashid became the first England spinner to reach 200 ODI wickets, achieving the milestone in his 131st innings, at an average of 32.2. He remains England's best white-ball spinner by some distance, and the only one to have taken over a hundred T20I wickets. Though often surplus to requirement in the T20 leagues in the subcontinent, Rashid has been a fixture for Northern Superchargers in the Hundred, and among the tournament's leading wicket-takers overall.