By Pranav Soneji

Yorkshire's Adil Rashid has said he wants to play for England

"A large proportion of Britain's Asian population fail to pass the cricket test. Which side do they cheer for? It's an interesting test. Are you still harking back to where you came from or where you are?"

Those were the words of then Conservative MP Norman Tebbit in 1990, who controversially questioned the loyalties of British-born Asian cricket fans in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

For first-generation immigrants, supporting England was somehow not an option.

But based on the research of a two-part Radio Four programme 'Taking the cricket test', a newer generation of British-born Asian fans appear to feel differently.

Writer and broadcaster Sarfraz Manzoor used Pakistan's four-Test summer series in England to discover whether the 'Tebbit test' is just as valid 16 years on.

Manzoor, a lifelong Pakistan cricket fan, followed the team to London, Manchester and Leeds, as well as visiting Manningham Mills Cricket Club, a predominantly Muslim team in Bradford, to talk to British-born Pakistanis and examine whether they had divided loyalties.

"The programmes look at the role of cricket in the relationship between England and Pakistan, the historic questions involved and bringing it right up to date and asking whether we are passing or failing 'the cricket test'," said Manzoor.

TEST MATCH SPECIAL BLOG As a 30-year-old British-born cricket fanatic of Indian descent, Norman Tebbit's infamous 'cricket test' quote still manages to push my blood pressure up to alarming levels Test Match Special Blogger Pranav Talk about this on our TMS blog

And Manzoor's findings exceeded his own expectations.

"I was fully expecting to see British-born Pakistanis all supporting Pakistan, I was not expecting was to see many of them supporting England," he told BBC Sport.

"I met a 40-year-old lawyer who remembered seeing England play Pakistan in the 1980s and he spoke of the racism he experienced back then.

"But when I asked about his kids' allegiances, he said they supported England in football and cricket.

"Even the most ferociously patriotic Pakistani fans, based on the people I spoke to, assumed their children would want to play cricket for England.

"The opportunities are so much better now than they were for people who are in their 30s and older."

The football analogy is particularly poignant because no British-born Pakistan fan Manzoor spoke to had any identity contradictions supporting England.

John Terry's England are well supported by Pakistani cricket fans

"Pakistan don't play football to a great standard, so it is no issue to support England," he said. "But cricket is one of the few places they can be proud to be Pakistani, to be something other than just purely English.

"A lot of Pakistani cricket supporters were also fervent England football fans - some were attending the Test matches wearing England football shirts."

While in Leeds for the Headingley Test, Manzoor made the detour a few miles south to Beeston, home town of three of the 7 July suicide bombers.

According to Manzoor, one of the three, 22-year-old Shehzad Tanweer, had been playing cricket the evening before travelling to London.

"I wanted to know: 'How can you be playing cricket one day and murder and maim the next?'" said Manzoor.

Manzoor also spoke to England's Sajid Mahmood during the course of his research and found the 24-year-old to be the ideal role model.

Sajid Mahmood (left) and Monty Panesar represent a new face of English cricket

The Lancashire-born fast bowler, who along with his cousin, boxer Amir Khan, has successfully managed to preserve his Islamic upbringing while simultaneously celebrating his English roots, confirming the two identities can live together symbiotically.

"How did his family produce two British Muslim heroes, while other families have been producing radicals, people that are alienated and angry?" said Manzoor.

"His answer was that his family gave him the opportunity to explore and develop his own interests.

"When he told his family that he wanted to be a cricketer, they didn't say 'No you're going to be an accountant' they said 'We'll support you in what you do'.

"It is a rare thing but it provides a lesson for Pakistani parents to improve and get the best out of their children."