Shoaib Bashir has described the Test team as his ‘happy place’. After bowling England to victory in Nottingham for the second summer in succession, that presumably makes Trent Bridge his nirvana.
Last year, he knocked over West Indies here with five for 41. Now, on a grey day illuminated by a stunning slip catch from Harry Brook – and a stunned expression from the bowler, Ben Stokes – Bashir picked up six for 81, a new career-best, to bowl out the plucky but limited Zimbabweans for 255 and condemn them to defeat by an innings and 45 runs.
No matter that there will be tougher tests to come. In the space of three days, Bashir has overcome a miserable start to the county season on loan at Glamorgan, and reasserted his status as England’s No 1 spinner. With the top three each making a first-day century, Stokes will head into the five-Test series against India that starts at Headingley on June 20 with the gratifying sense of boxes ticked.
It was the performance of Bashir, though, that gave England’s captain his greatest feeling of vindication. Rough edges remain, which is no surprise: spinners tend not to mature until they reach 30, and Bashir is 21. India, who yesterday named an 18-man squad, and Australia will not yet be tearing up their plans.
But he has bowled some beauties, and reconnected with the pleasures of his craft. When he trapped last man Tanaka Chivanga leg-before, there was even a nonchalance about his appeal. Against the odds, and at the highest level, Bashir has found a home.
In the first innings, he especially enjoyed the off-break that had Sean Williams caught at slip, followed by a dreamy delivery through Tafadzwa Tsiga’s gate.
Shoaib Bashir was ruthlessly efficient as England comfortably dispatched Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge
The 21-year-old claimed six for 81 on Saturday to set a new career best in front of a delighted crowd
In the second, he reserved his best for Tsiga once more, drifting one past the inside edge and hitting leg stumps so imperceptibly that Bashir – believing the ball had disappeared towards fine leg for byes – had his head in his hands.
It was a rare misjudgment on an afternoon when he took six of the seven wickets England needed to start their summer with the only acceptable result. The big one came 10 minutes before lunch, when Williams, who had batted superbly for 88, missed a sweep and was unlucky to be given out lbw by Kumar Dharmasena: DRS had the ball clipping the varnish of the leg bail, and Bashir punched the air in delight.
Then, in the second over after the break, he induced a loose drive to extra cover from the otherwise strokeless Ben Curran, as Zimbabwean hopes of extending the game into the fourth and final day began to fade.
The wicket of Tsiga was followed by a free gift from Blessing Muzarabani, who heaved his second ball to Joe Root at deep midwicket. Sikandar Raza’s lively 60 ended with an ugly top-edged smear to slip. And with Richard Ngarava still unable to bat because of the back injury sustained on the first day, the dismissal of Chivanga brought an end before tea, and Bashir his ninth wicket of the match.
‘It was nice to be out in front of an England crowd,’ he said. ‘You can’t get better than that. When you’re backed you can go out and express yourself.’
If that sounded like a mantra from the Bazball playbook, then the catch by Brook to see off Wessly Madhevere was as good as anything England have pulled off since Stokes joined forces with Brendon McCullum three years ago.
With Zimbabwe a fighting 207 for four, and the three frontline seamers failing to build on a strong end to the second day, Stokes brought himself on for one of his new-look short spells. His fourth ball climbed at Madhevere, whose prodded edge seemed certain to clear the slips. But Brook leapt high, extending his right hand as his body twisted and somehow clinging on. He reacted with Yorkshire phlegm, as if he had just taken a dolly.
Stokes was less in control of his emotions, pulling the face he himself had once provoked from Stuart Broad, when – only a few feet away – he caught Australia’s Adam Voges on that heady Ashes morning here a decade ago. Brook’s catch was almost as breathtaking.
Harry Brook produced a stunning catch in the slips to dismiss Zimbabwe’s Wessly Madhevere
The result provides captain Ben Stokes with some momentum as England look towards a series with India
The drama helped overshadow an underwhelming performance from England’s seam-bowling B-listers. Sam Cook finished his debut with match figures of one for 119, and looked anything but the bowler who has averaged 18 for Essex. Worryingly, he rarely breached 78mph after his opening spell, though Stokes attributed that to the intensity of Test cricket.
Josh Tongue was rapid but expensive, while Gus Atkinson – who did enough last summer to be considered a first-choice pick – was short of his best. Nothing that happened over eight sessions in Nottingham dispelled the notion that Chris Woakes and Brydon Carse – assuming both remain fit – will resume their places for the start of the series against India.
All that remained was for Stokes to insist that his pre-match comments about the return of Jacob Bethell had been misinterpreted: when Bethell returns from the IPL, he will take his place in the squad, not necessarily the team.
And if that sounded like good news for Ollie Pope in particular, it may yet feel like a chance missed for Bethell to reacquaint himself with the rhythms of red-ball cricket ahead of 10 crucial Tests. For all the pleasure of this one-off win, Stokes knows that’s where his team will be judged.
