England must be patient with Adam Lyth and Adil Rashid

9:54am Thursday 2nd September 2010

By Graham Hardcastle

Run-machine Jacques Rudolph has urged England to be patient with Yorkshire duo Adam Lyth and Adil Rashid.

Both men have caught the eye of the national selectors with their performances in all forms of cricket for their county this summer, particularly in the longer format.

Lyth has fielded numerous questions about whether he is thinking about international cricket after his breakthrough season has yielded 1,382 runs in 14 County Championship matches.

And Rashid, who has taken 51 wickets in the Championship and 26 in the Twenty20, is still talked about heavily regarding an England recall.

But Rudolph said: “I think Adam Lyth has been highly impressive in all forms. He is definitely one for the future, and I have no doubt that he will play for England.

“But I hope the selectors are patient with him because there is a danger of picking people too young – and I speak from personal experience.

“I know my game a lot better now at 29 than I did when I was first picked for South Africa at 20.

“I was thrown in at the deep end after some good form, and it means you have not really gone through any difficult patches in first-class cricket.

“It is the same with Rashid. Leave them both for a couple of seasons with Yorkshire instead of in and out of the England set-up.

“They can then play consistently for the next ten years for the national team.”

Rudolph is hot on the heels of Lyth, his opening partner in four-day cricket, having scored 1,298 from the same number of matches.

And he has two fixtures left to score the 69 runs he needs to make this his most prolific season for the county.

Rudolph, who scored 1,078 in 2007, 1,292 in 2008 and 1,366 in 2009, added: “The last four or five games are probably as well as I’ve played for Yorkshire.

“Personally, I feel I am in control of my game. I am a more complete player now at 29.

Rudolph has also scored 696 runs from 11 Clydesdale Bank 40 matches at an average of 99.42. He has scored 200 runs more than anybody else in the country.

Meanwhile, Anthony McGrath believes the potential acquisition of former team-mate Ryan Sidebottom would be a good one for Yorkshire.

The club have officially approached the England left-armer, who will leave Nottinghamshire this winter.

McGrath said: “Having played with Ryan before, he is an excellent bowler. If we are trying to attract that sort of player, it would be fantastic if we could get him back.”