Rashid was born in Bradford, West Yorkshire, and is of Pakistani background. Like his England teammate Moeen Ali, he belongs to the Mirpuri community, his family having migrated to England in 1967 from Kashmir.

His brothers Haroon and Amar are also cricketers.

Early promise

Rashid showed promise from a young age: Jenner spotted him as a 14-year-old, and, in early July 2005, aged 17, he took 6–13 for Yorkshire's Academy (youth) team. A few days later he hit 111 for Yorkshire Cricket Board Under-17s against their Cheshire equivalents in the Under-17s County Championship.

In 2006, he played a number of games for Yorkshire Second XI, making four successive centuries. This form, combined with a calf injury to Darren Lehmann, earned him the chance to make his first-class debut.

County career

Rashid made his debut against Warwickshire at North Marine Road, Scarborough, as a replacement for injured overseas batsman Darren Lehmann. He took 6–67 in the second innings. Rashid was called up by England Under-19s for the first Test against India Under-19s at Canterbury; he made 13 and 23 and took one wicket. In the second Test, at Taunton, he produced an excellent all-round display, scoring 114 and 48 and claiming 8–157 and 2–45. He also played in the third Test at the Denis Compton Oval in Shenley, but made less of an impression. From mid-August until the end of the season, he held down a regular spot in the Yorkshire side, and at Headingley scored 63 against Nottinghamshire and shared in a fourth-wicket stand of 130 with Craig White to dig Yorkshire out of a hole at 42/3.

That winter, he suffered from a stress fracture in his back. However, he recovered well enough to be picked for the 2006–07 England A tour of Bangladesh, though his statistics in one f