- author, Stephen Shemilt
- role, Chief Cricket Writer at Trent Bridge
Captain Ben Stokes said off-spinner Shoaib Bashir “showed the world what he can do” after leading England to victory in the second Test against the West Indies at Trent Bridge.
Bashir took 5-41 and the home team dismissed the visitors for 143 in the final session on the fourth day to win the match by 241 runs and take a commanding 2-0 lead in the series.
At 20 years and 282 days old, Bashir became the youngest English bowler to take five wickets in a home Test and the first spinner to take five wickets in an innings at Trent Bridge since 2006.
“He’s extremely talented and has an incredible drive to get better,” Stokes said.
“It’s really incredible to see a young lad perform well enough to win a Test match for England. He was so emotional at the end. It was a great day for him.”
Bashir was a surprise selection for England’s winter tour of India, being called up despite having played just six first-class matches.
But he has three five-wicket hauls in five Test matches so far, and in one of them – the heavy defeat to West Indies in the first Test at Lord’s last week – he did not need to bowl.
“He’s shown the world what he’s capable of,” Stokes added. “His intention is always to take a wicket, never to stop an end up.”
England opted for Bashir over Jack Leach, who was Somerset’s first-choice player and had also been loaned out to Worcestershire earlier this summer for their County Championship spell.
Stokes and his coach Brendon McCullum acknowledge Bashir’s height is one of his key attributes, and say the 6ft 4in Bashir is “still growing.”
His release point of 2.35 metres was the third highest recorded by a spinner and means he is likely to gain more bounce, a key weapon for any slow bowler.
All-rounder Stokes continued: “The decisions we make are based not only on how far a player’s talent can go but also on whether they are good enough to play international cricket straight away.”
“Bash has shown what he can do in good conditions in India but the pitches this week were not conducive to spin and he took seven wickets in the match. I don’t want to say ‘I told you so’ but in a way he is.”
Stokes first saw Basheer in a video posted to X (formerly Twitter) of him bowling on his first-class debut against England’s all-time record run-scorer Sir Alastair Cook in June last year, and then shared the video in a WhatsApp group with McCullum and England managing director Rob Key.
“Bashir has great potential,” Cook told Test Match Special. “He has to pitch to master his technique but we can see him learning on the field and making progress.”
“He’s still a long way from being finished. The funny thing is, if he’s still playing in 10 years’ time, we’ll look back and think, ‘Oh, I wasn’t that good then’, but he’ll still be doing the job for England.”
Bashir’s 24 wickets are the third-most by an English spinner in the first five Test matches since World War Two, behind Nick Cook and Graham Swann.
Bashir himself had never been to Trent Bridge before playing for England at Nottingham.
After England set West Indies at 385 to win and four sessions away from the score needed for a draw, Basheer led the way and beat the tourists, who were out in 36.1 overs after tea on Sunday.
“It was my first time bowling in England for England and to get it done in one session felt really special,” Bashir told Test Match Special.
“I’m the youngest of the group so everyone just rallies around me. I’m still trying to take it all in. That innings went by so quickly.”
England will play with an unchanged line-up for the third Test at Edgbaston on Friday, aiming for a comprehensive 3-0 victory.
