One cannot say that Shoaib Bashir did not make his final involvement of England’s series against India a telling one. Nursing a broken pinkie finger on his non-bowling hand, the spinner had shown admirable bravery to play through the pain to deliver the match-winning moment; an innocuous off-spinner blocked inadvertently on to his stumps by Mohammed Siraj as a solitary bail’s tame tumble brought an end to a slow-burn thriller of a Test match.
And so ends Bashir’s Test summer, with the 21-year-old ruled out of the remaining encounters at Old Trafford and The Oval. It is a shame for a bowler who needs as much cricket as he can get; currently unable to force his way into the Somerset side and seeking a new county contract next year yet first choice for his country, his is an odd situation. This England environment have backed Bashir to the hilt, and he may well have assurances that he will remain at the top of the pecking order come the Ashes this winter.
But a sliding of doors will open a window of opportunity for another. This is far from a bad time to be presented with such a chance, with that upcoming trip to Australia upon which England will surely want a second specialist spinner to travel, plus a dry summer and turning track at Old Trafford to get the tweaking fingers twiddling. An updated squad will be confirmed for the Manchester Test in the coming days.
Perhaps the favourite for a call-up might be Jack Leach given his existing familiarity with the group, and the fact that, in Pakistan last year, he was the man in possession of the second spinner slot when England required one. The left-armer keeps Bashir out of his county side and is, right now, a more rounded performer; the national side have banked on the younger, taller spinner’s higher ceiling and been prepared to accept a lower floor. Leach – who thrived initially under the leadership of Ben Stokes – has a solid body of work at Test level.
Also on that Pakistan trip was Rehan Ahmed, who featured in Rawalpindi as a third spin prong. Life can be tough for a leggie in Test cricket – recent success stories are vanishingly few and far between – but Ahmed sparkled on debut as an 18-year-old, and has not at all looked overawed in his infrequent outings at international level. He has endured something of a curious county season, though: Leicestershire have been an unexpected story of the summer with Ahmed prominent with bat, if not ball. His last first-class appearance against Glamorgan featured a blistering ton from No 3, but no overs. Full credit to Ahmed for carving out a role; former England Test wrist-spinners Matt Parkinson and Mason Crane have also been used as pinch blocking openers in the County Championship this year to follow in the footsteps of Sussex’s Will Beer, who briefly flourished in a similar role in 2019.
A more radical solution for England, mooted in these pages last week, might be to bring in Jacob Bethell to provide another part-time spin option and deepen the batting line-up. Such an idea was dismissed ahead of Lord’s by Brendon McCullum – insisting that Bethell would be considered for selection if or when a spot in the top order opens up – but that came before a place appeared naturally. Bethell is clearly well liked by the England hierarchy; it would not come as a total shock if they found a way to fit him in, as they did in New Zealand after Jordan Cox’s moment of misfortune. At Old Trafford in mid-summer, mind, such a selection would surely be indicative of a shift in strategy for contests ahead.
Besides, if England did want a left-arm spin option to lengthen the batting order, a recall for Liam Dawson would make sense for several reasons. It is eight years since a cause celebre of the county cricketing public played the last of his three Tests. A recall to the white-ball sides, however, represented something of a rapprochement with a player perhaps picked initially too soon, then discarded too early amid a muddling of messages, and only now really coming fully back into the frame as a Test contender.
Dawson has been among English cricket’s most consistent spinners for the last few seasons while shouldering plenty of bowling and batting burden. Though not, perhaps, the sort of Test No 5 or 6 England would covet, at No 7 or, in its current construction, 8, he would feel a snug fit. This, in turn, could reduce England’s reliance on developing a seam bowler who can bat – Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson have flashed in their short Test stints but Chris Woakes still feels a figure of importance given what he offers with the willow. Having Dawson in the side may provide greater tactical flexibility.
His selection would also be a worthwhile exercise in emergency planning. Nobody particularly wants to consider a scenario in which Stokes does not play a full part over these next seven Tests but there were surely a few frets after the injury scare sustained by the skipper while batting late on day one. That he returned to strain every sinew with the ball said plenty about his character, and the shape the all-rounder has worked to get himself in, but his body has been pushed beyond breaking point before.
While George Hill looks a player of promise at Yorkshire, a like-for-like replacement as a seam-bowling all-rounder within the county game is not readily apparent; Stokes is perhaps unique in being able to push 90mph and, when at his best with the bat, occupy a spot in the top six. A second look at Dawson, however, might be worthwhile future proofing for a nightmare scenario, the left-arm spinner perhaps sitting at No 7 in Stokes’s absence and allowing Jamie Smith to push up a rung on a ladder plenty of sage voices within the game imagine he will continue to climb. Perhaps it is unwise to consider such hypotheticals, for Dawson presents a compelling case for selection regardless.
