Shane Warne offers expert help to England spinner Adil Rashid
Friday 30 October 2015 20:26, UK
Shane Warne spent an hour with Adil Rashid to give the England leg-spinner the benefit of his expert advice before the third Test in Sharjah.
Warne, the Australia great who has 708 wickets on his Test CV, believes Rashid is capable of becoming a key player in England's plans as they look for a long-term spin replacement for the retired Graeme Swann.
The 27-year-old Yorkshire player took a five-wicket haul on debut in Abu Dhabi this month but, after his two Tests so far against Pakistan, his seven victims in all have come at an expensive cost of 418 runs.
Warne, in the United Arab Emirates on business, popped in to bowl with Pakistan's Yasir Shah on Thursday - and proved he can be even-handed with his time when he joined Rashid too as he prepared for nets at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
The pair spoke at length in the middle, and then the tutorial expanded to a demonstration by Warne on what appeared to be best approach to the crease and points of delivery for the leg-spinner's variations.
"The overriding thing was that he's a wonderful bowler," Warne told Sky Sports. "When anyone first starts their Test career, it takes time to see the best of them.
"What we've seen already from him are some glimpses of magic. We've already seen he can do it at this level.
"It's about being consistent, and that's going to take time. Rashid's got a beautiful leg-break as well (as Yasir). There's not too many people going round with a better leg-break than Rashid's. He's as good as anyone I've seen, ever."
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Rashid's team-mates, meanwhile, were already at nets - without Mark Wood, who will not play in the must-win final Test because of his ankle condition.
That could mean England going into the game with three spinners, left-armer Samit Patel being one of the options to come in for the Durham seamer.
