England neither need Shoaib Bashir nor a spinner

Shoaib Bashir was not yet 18 when he learnt of the sheer precariousness of the English spin bowler’s existence: he was released by Surrey. Last month, he was reminded of this brutality when Somerset, his next first-class county, released him too.

On Saturday at Edgbaston, Bashir was again confronted by the realities of bowling spin in England. On the fourth day of a Test played in baking heat, Bashir might have been seen as essential to England’s prospects of bowling India out. Instead, he was held back until the 33rd over and met by a pitch that had stubbornly refused to break up. Indeed, Bashir’s challenge in England has been amplified by Ben Stokes’s penchant for chasing, which deprives spinners of operating in the final innings of a Test.

Advertisement

Bashir has shown indications of growth this summer. He has bowled a slightly wider, more attacking, line to right-handers and improved his command of length. He even claimed a wicket with a carrom ball, a variation beloved of Ravichandran Ashwin that bounces sharply, in India’s first innings.

Yet none of these tentative reasons for optimism could obscure that Bashir’s second delivery on the fourth day could scarcely have been more inviting. A long hop allowed Rishabh Pant to rock back and thrash Bashir through the on side. Bashir was almost as generous when he bowled at the start of the afternoon and evening sessions. His first delivery after lunch was too short and too wide, allowing Pant to unfurl a cut for four. His second ball after tea was overpitched; Ravindra Jadeja skipped down the wicket and launched a straight six. Bashir could hardly claim to have been ill-served either by innings figures of two for 119 from 26 overs or his series average of 59.5.

Bashir is still only 21. Yet this youth should not conceal that he is now in his 18th Test match. He has now played as many Tests as Simon Jones and more than some significant England cricketers – Tom Richardson, Frank Tyson and Dean Headley, to name three. Test caps are, in part, investments of opportunity; England have spent significantly on Bashir.

Advertisement

So far, he compares unflatteringly to recent English Test spinners. Bashir’s 66 wickets have come at an average of 39.2, five runs more than Jack Leach: one reason why Somerset prefer Leach as their first-choice spinner. Off-spinner Dom Bess also paid five runs fewer for each of his Test wickets than Bashir. Moeen Ali, who England turned into a spinner because of his all-round gifts rather than his raw bowling ability, had a better average, economy rate and strike rate.

No Test spinner in history to bowl as much as Bashir has an economy rate as steep as his 3.8 an over. And, for all that England claim that their focus is on wickets alone, in 11 Tests since August last year, excluding the clash with Zimbabwe that was outside the World Test Championship, Bashir now averages 52.8. During these Tests, he takes a wicket once every 80 balls.

All wickets in Test cricket are equal, but some are a lot more equal than others. So far this series, seven of Bashir’s eight wickets have come when batsmen have attempted to launch him over the boundary. His two wickets in the second innings at Edgbaston – Pant, caught at mid-off after swinging so ferociously that he lost control of his bat and Shubman Gill, caught-and-bowled attempting a heave – fit within this trend. The lone exception was Mohammed Siraj, India’s number 10, stumped down the leg side from Bashir’s carrom ball in the first innings.

Bashir fits within a rare group: the English first-class spinner who contributes little beyond his primary skill. If Bashir is solid in the field, he might be England’s least impressive fielder. He also averages 6.4 with the bat – one meagre run more than Phil Tufnell, who is never shy with tales of his lack of batting competence.

Advertisement

England have spinning alternatives who offer far more of an all-round package than Bashir. The most compelling is Liam Dawson. Since 2023, Dawson has taken 124 County Championship wickets at 25.6, while also averaging 47.6 with the bat. He made a fine return to international cricket in the Twenty20 series against West Indies and would allow England’s Test team to line-up in a different way, with far more batting depth.

Yet perhaps the most salient question is not whether Bashir is England’s best spinner – but whether England need a spinner at all, especially in the Ashes. If they are to return to near their best, Jofra Archer and Mark Wood both need robust support from fellow quick bowlers, allowing them to be unleashed in short spells. Overseas spinners average 54.3 in Australia this century; they have been marginalised further since the new Kookaburra balls, which offer seamers more assistance, were introduced four years ago.

By picking Bashir, England would be making an extraordinary claim: that he is better-equipped to succeed than spinners of the ilk of Muttiah Muralitharan, Harbhajan Singh and Yasir Shah, who all floundered in Australia. If an ideal Test attack would include a spinner of the top rank, England might be better served by embracing more pragmatism and sacrificing balance for greater quality.

Rishabh Pant brings new meaning to term ‘Throw the bat!’

As the sport of cricket evolves – mainly by way of novel T20 shots being incorporated into every format at every level – so does its language. A captain, impatient at the slow progress of his two batsmen, can no longer shout to them: “Throw the bat!”

Advertisement

Rishabh Pant, India’s maverick of a batsman/wicketkeeper, has killed off the metaphorical use of this phrase by doing it literally. He threw his bat twice in his second innings against England at Edgbaston, once when he had made 31 and again in the act of being dismissed for 65.

So now we know that Pant can not only hit the ball as far as anyone in the contemporary game – one of his three sixes was an almighty pick-up over deep backward square, a swish-hit as opposed to a switch-hit – but can also throw the bat as far as anyone. Ben Stokes had probably held the record after losing control of his bat in a Test in Multan, but these two throws by Pant must be up there, in the absence of official data.

In dressing rooms around the world, of course, bats have been thrown with even greater vigour, but they are deliberate expressions of anger at getting out. Pant threw unintentionally: firstly when facing Josh Tongue and his bat flew about 25 yards to backward square-leg, and the second time when he aimed to hit Shoaib Bashir straight, and his bat flew to midwicket – about 25 yards again – and the ball to Ben Duckett at very deep mid-off.

While international cricketers often make fine role-models, not so in this case. Any attempt at doing the same, even in a net, is to be discouraged or rather forbidden. A piece of wood weighing almost three pounds, hurtling through the air, could do as much damage as an Australian boomerang if there are fielders crowded round the bat, or in front of the wicket at silly mid-on or mid-off, without helmets or the time to react.

Advertisement

England’s Brydon Carse illustrated what could go wrong, before picking up Pant’s bat and returning it to its owner as he walked off. The fielder is conditioned to watch the ball’s flight after it leaves the bat, and often before it does. To switch his attention to flying debris requires a very sudden change of focus.

Pant has pioneered the tactic of hitting his first or second ball in a Test innings for six. On this occasion he waited until his fourth, then ran down the pitch at Tongue, as though he were not at all brisk but mere medium pace and slotted him straight into the pavilion. Pant immediately established the fact that there could only be two winners of this match: India or the pitch.

Pant is the Lord of Misrule, the figure who led the revels in a medieval festival, often turning the social order upside down for a day. There is one probable difference: the Lord of Misrule would be going by an ancient script if he poked fun at some abbot or prince. Pant appears to be driven by spontaneity – and an element of reason.

If one single shot stands out in Pant’s armoury, it is the falling sweep: Bashir bowls a presentable off-break and Pant falls over, head first. Just before he hits the ground, while underneath the ball after it has bounced, Pant scoops or sweeps – and the rationale behind this apparent madness is that his eyes are in line with the ball. His eyes may be only a foot above the ground but at the moment of impact they are behind the ball.

Such audacity – which only an all-rounder can attempt, not a specialist batsman – has its effect on the opposition’s morale. England’s suspicions, that they might have a modest attack for conditions overwhelmingly in favour of batting, are further reinforced when Pant and Shubman Gill toy with it. If this series stands at 1-1 going to Lord’s, India will have the upper hand.