Last Updated on 4 months ago by Charbel Coorey
England have not picked Shoaib Bashir for the third straight Test in this Ashes, instead opting for Will Jacks as the spin option at the Adelaide Oval.
It is certainly a strange turn of events given Bashir has been earmarked by the current regime as a spinner who could perform in Australia. England have stuck solid with him amid calls that he isn’t quite ready for Test cricket. The justification was that a tall spinner could perform well down under.
This is all despite a lack of First Class experience before the callup to Test cricket. Bashir had played just six County matches before his selection for the 2024 tour of India. Ben Stokes had noticed the offspinner in a social media clip, but the fact he wasn’t even first choice for Somerset in County Cricket this past season is a blight on the England thinktank.
“I know it’s an odd story to look at. But if he keeps putting in performances like he has done this week, hopefully one day it will properly make sense to everyone why we pick him,” Stokes said after Bashir won man of the match against Zimbabwe in May.
“What was the point of playing Shoaib Bashir for two years?” England fans question selection tactics
Bashir has struggled so far in Australia, taking 1/68 (12 overs) and 1/83 (12 overs) in the England vs England Lions match before the Perth Test. He then followed up with 0/115 off 25 overs for the England Lions against Australia A in Brisbane earlier this month.
However, Adelaide Oval is touted as the ground that should suit the spinners the most in this series. Temperatures are set to reach up to 39 degrees on day two which will bake the surface and bring the spinners into the game as the match wears on. This, in theory, is the game Bashir could have had an impact in.
“What was the point in giving Shoaib Bashir 19 too many Test caps in preparation for the Ashes and then not playing him?,” wrote one fan on X (formerly Twitter).
“Two years of passionate persistence in Bashir when anyone who dared question his place in the team was tersly dismissed, because he was going to be ideally suited to this exact test match, and we don’t select him. You’ve chewed up a young cricketer and spat him out,” wrote another.
Will Jacks has a huge role to play in England’s must-win Ashes Test. Not only is he required to bear the load of a frontline spinner, but he will also be called upon to perform with the bat at number eight.
The third Ashes Test begins on Wednesday December 17. A draw or Australian win will mean the Ashes are gone yet again for England.
