The only way Shoaib Bashir will get better is by bowling: Nasser Hussain

Nottingham: Former captain Nasser Hussain said England’s young off-spinner Shoaib Bashir is still learning on the job as he has to realise teams will come after him in Test cricket, adding that he dealt very well with it during day two of second game against West Indies at Trent Bridge.

 Bashir was one of the few positives for England with the ball on day two when he took out Mikyle Lewis and Kirk McKenzie to get his first couple of scalps on home soil in Test cricket, but conceded 100 runs in 23 overs as Kavem Lodge led West Indies’ fightback with a brilliant 120 not out.

“Bashir has to realise that sides are going to come after him and he coped with that pretty well. For example, he got hit for a boundary from a bit of a hack from Louis and dismissed him next ball. Stokes will know that the only way England’s first-choice spinner is going to get better is by bowling.”

“What they’re looking for him to do is to get over spin and some drop on the ball, looking to go past the outside edge of left-handers’ bats and hit off stump when bowling to right-handers,” wrote Hussain in his column for Daily Mail on Saturday.

He also observed how Bashir made changes to his lines and lengths. “Before lunch on Friday, he bowled a bit too straight. In contrast to someone like Joe Root, who is more round arm, Bashir releases the ball right up at the horizontal and so the ball can keep going down leg side on the angle.”

“Post-lunch, he changed that, bowling a little bit more outside off, slower, with more flight, inviting more modes of dismissal. Bowling straight, you might get a caught round the corner or a catch in the deep like his first wicket when excellent work from Harry Brook got rid of Mikyle Louis.”

Hussain further urged Bashir to learn from former spinner Graeme Swann’s Test career, which peaked when he was past 30. “This was a decent start to Shoaib Bashir’s home Test career, but because of his age and lack of experience there is much to learn for a player identified as a component of next year’s Ashes attack.”

“Bashir was always going to be looked after by England captain Ben Stokes and even when he went for some boundaries, he was kept on, bringing back memories of the emotional intelligence Stokes showed towards Tom Hartley in India earlier this year.”

“One thing you must remember about Bashir is that he is 20 and as a spinner, you’re probably not peaking in international cricket until you hit 30. For a Test spinner, very rarely does a pitch turn first innings, maybe off the damp occasionally, but then second time round it suddenly starts to turn and everyone says ‘over to you’.”

“It can be a hard lesson, but Swann is a good example to Bashir, because when he started his career with Northamptonshire, he could rely on deceiving the batter off the pitch. Only when he moved to the less spin-friendly ground here at Trent Bridge was he forced to deceive the batter in the air.”

“Moving to Nottinghamshire made Swann an international bowler and Bashir will have to develop the same art in readiness for touring Australia in 16 month’s time. That’s how Nathan Lyon gets his wickets, and yesterday Bashir began shaping his learning curve,” he concluded. IANS

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