Ajmal Shahzad, the Yorkshire pace bowler, is the main beneficiary of the decision to rest James Anderson from England’s tour to Bangladesh. As well as granting a few weeks’ leave to Andrew Strauss, the selectors have left Anderson out of the Test and one-day squads to give him time to recover from the niggling injury to his right knee that dogged him throughout the tour to South Africa.
Alastair Cook will, as expected, captain England against Bangladesh in the three-match one-day series that starts in Dhaka on February 28, and in the two-Test series that follows, and Paul Collingwood will continue as Twenty20 captain in the two matches against Pakistan in Dubai on February 19 and 20. Anderson is to visit a specialist to assess his knee, but is expected to be fit for the World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, beginning on April 30.
England’s Test squad includes three players untried at international level: Michael Carberry, James Tredwell and Shahzad. The first two have been in the running for an England place for some time, but Shahzad, 24, has come up hard on the rails after his breakthrough season last summer.
A muscular bowler and useful lower middle-order batsman, he has been selected for both squads after playing only 22 first-class matches and 15 one-day games since making his debut for Yorkshire in 2004, when he became the first British-born Asian to represent the county. He bowls consistently at about 85mph and can produce spells of genuine hostility.
“He’s got that yard of pace, he can swing the ball both ways and he knows all about reverse-swing,” Steve Oldham, the Yorkshire bowling coach, said yesterday.
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Shahzad earned his promotion after impressing on tour with England’s Performance Programme squad in South Africa in November and December. In the game against Northerns in Pretoria, he took seven wickets, and Geoff Miller, the national selector, said: “He made a strong impression in South Africa with the EPP squad and is a bowler with the potential to make a real impact in international cricket.”
England are unlikely to play only four bowlers in Bangladesh, as they did throughout the Test series in South Africa, hence the selection of bowlers who can contribute lowerorder runs. Liam Plunkett, an unused squad member in South Africa, is likely to be given his chance in Bangladesh and Shahzad’s ability with the bat — he averages 30 in first-class cricket — has enabled him to leapfrog several more experienced bowlers in the queue for Test selection, including Sajid Mahmood, Amjad Khan and Mark Davies.
Mahmood has also lost his place in the one-day squad, but the major casualty of yesterday’s shake-up was Adil Rashid, the leg spinner who was in the Test and one-day squads in South Africa, but has been nudged out of both by Tredwell. Rashid is still only 21, but a leg spinner’s confidence can be fragile and he must be managed carefully after a difficult winter.
The inclusion of Tredwell, a second off spinner, ahead of Rashid and Monty Panesar, means that Cook will not be able to call on anyone who turns the ball away from the right-hander. It is worth remembering, though, that on their one previous visit to Bangladesh in 2003, England’s two spin bowlers, Ashley Giles and Gareth Batty, took only three wickets between them in two Test matches.
Strauss’s place at the top of the order looks likely to be taken by Carberry, a fellow left-hander, who also impressed with the EPP squad, making a century against Gauteng.
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But in the one-day team, Cook will replace Strauss as both captain and opening batsman, even though he has not played a one-day international since November 2008.
Shahzad fact-file
? Born Huddersfield, July 27, 1985
? Right-arm fast-medium bowler and right-handed batsman
? Became the first British-born Asian to play for Yorkshire when he made his debut, aged 18, in May 2004
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? Made first-class debut for Yorkshire in August 2006, against Middlesex. His only appearance of an injury-ravaged season, he failed to take a wicket and scored just two in his only innings
? Has played only 22 first-class matches, 15 one-day matches and ten Twenty20 matches for Yorkshire
? Took 40 wickets in 13 County Championship matches in 2009 (average 34.40) and scored 445 runs (average 40.45)