England’s Test captain Ben Stokes has hailed Shoaib Bashir’s performance in the second Test against the West Indies, which the hosts won by a mammoth margin of 241 runs at Trent Bridge to take a 2-0 lead in three-match Test series.
Bashir returned with impressive figures of 5-41 in the second innings. The off-spinner accounted for Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, first-innings centurion Kavem Hodge, Jason Holder, and Shamar Joseph. The young off-spinner dismissed Alick Athanaze and Kavem Hodge in back-to-back overs. Furthermore, Bashir bagged 2-108 in the first innings.
“He has got so much talent, and he’s got an unbelievable desire to get better,” Stokes said of Bashir. “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.”
Interestingly, Bashir didn’t get to bowl in the opening Test match at Lord’s despite being in the playing XI and Stokes said he made the decision because of the favorable seam conditions.
“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,” Stokes said after Bashir’s efforts in Trent Bridge after not getting a bowl at Lord’s.
“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.”
Meanwhile, Bashir had also impressed on India’s tour, earlier in the year. The off-spinner had picked 17 wickets in three Test matches he played at an average of 33.35.
The third and final Test match between England and the West Indies will be played at Edgbaston, Birmingham from Friday onwards.
