England Test captain Ben Stokes heaped praise on young Shoaib Bashir after the offspinner bowled England to a series-clinching win against West Indies at Trent Bridge as well. Bashir, who claimed 5 for 41 from 11.1 overs of bowling in the second innings, became the youngest England bowler to take a five-wicket haul in a home Test and also the first spinner to take a fifer in a Test inning at the Nottingham venue since 2006 as well.
“He has got so much talent and he’s got an unbelievable desire to get better,” Stokes said of Bashir after England registered a 241-run victory to go 2-0 up in the series. “His intent is to always take wickets and never just to hold an end up. It’s really good for a young guy to put in a performance that wins England a Test. He was pretty emotional at the end. It’s a pretty cool day for him. He has shown the world what he can do.”
However, Bashir justified his selection call with 17 wickets from three Tests in India, including five-fers at Ranchi and Dharamsala as well. Funnily, Bashir was not chosen by Worcestershire by Somerset at the start of this County Championship season with Jack Leach preferred as the sole spinner as well. However, Stokes, Brendon McMullum and Rob Key picked Bashir for this West Indies series.
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“The decisions we make are all based around not only how far we think talent can take a player, but if we think they’re good enough for international cricket straight away. Bash showed what he could do in India with conditions in his favour, but the pitch this week didn’t really offer much for spin and he has taken seven wickets in the match. The ability he had to be able to change his pace, change his line, and manipulate how he wanted the ball to react out of the surface was top-class. I don’t want to sound like it’s an ‘I told you so’ kind of thing, but it sort of is,” Stokes again said.
While Shoaib Bashir walked away with all the applause on the final day of the Test, Ben Stokes had words of praise for Mark Wood also, whose 28 overs in the Test saw just two wickets. While the England captain didn’t reveal if Wood would be rested for the final game of the series – England named an unchanged squad – he expected his opposition to suffer Wood’s fiery pace this summer as well.
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“On another day, Woody could have got Man of the Match, the way that he bowled was just phenomenal. He’s not got the rewards this game, but someone will pay eventually this summer. In batting we talk a lot about partnerships, and it’s the same thing with bowling. You look at the amount of wickets at the other end when Woody was bowling his spells, that’s the effect that a bowler like Woody can have. He’s got the heart of a lion, he’ll run in ball after ball after ball for us. And his pace is just phenomenal but it’s the skill that he’s got as well, to be able to consistently hit a certain area, with batters always thinking ‘when is it coming at my head?,” Ben Stokes concluded.
The third Test of the series will start at Edgbaston on July 26.
