Azeem Rafiq is planning to spend most of the winter playing and training in Pakistan as he aims to make his four-day cricket as good as his impressive one-day form.
The 26-year-old spinner moved from Pakistan to Barnsley as a small child and, although he aims to play international cricket for England, he still has connections in the country of his birth and will return there to play warm weather cricket from later this month.
Rafiq said: "It will be mainly training at first and then I have a few options to play First Class four-day cricket out there. I just need to be playing red ball cricket as much as possible to get better in that format. I have had some good games in the County Championship this year but, overall, I haven't been good enough in that format. I want to get my four-day game as good as my one-day game which I've been delighted with."
Rafiq was released by Yorkshire in 2014 but, after a spell in club cricket, he returned last year. He took 17 wickets in this year's Twenty20 Blast which was the joint most in the Yorkshire team and also fourth in the list for all counties for the group stage. He also took the most Yorkshire wickets in the 50-over One Day Cup earlier this year with 18 while only Sam Curran of beaten finalists Surrey claimed more.
But he only played five County Championship matches, in which he took five wickets, and was left out of the last game at Essex as the Tykes secured safety. Competing at the 'wrong end of the table' and not reaching the last four of either cup has led to a frustrating season.
Rafiq said: "It's really disappointing not to have competed for trophies. It's not through a lack of effort because the boys have worked harder than ever. But it just hasn't gone for us. We have played well at times but we haven't been good enough on a consistent basis, especially in four-day cricket. The boys are hurting and we have had some really honest conversations. We will come back stronger."
