Shoaib Bashir

I'm there to create chances, get wickets.

The only problem was is that I often would find myself bowling with Shoaib Bashir, so he'd be finished his over in 30 seconds, and I'd be back on.

[laughs]

But we worked well together on the fact that they were trying to attack him because I would be, you know, trying to be aggressive from the other end.

I suppose if you're hosting,

I don't know, let's say Hampshire back in the day, and you knew that Liam Dawson was injured and wasn't going to play in the match, and you prepared a pitch that was overly conducive to spin, for example, if we did that and we had Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir and Archie Vaughan in the side, for example, that may That would not pass my sniff test.

Well, that's what we used to do.

Well, I know.

And I'd love to see him, you know, giving a go at some point, maybe during the, you know, the Bangladesh series when, you know, we need some specialist spinners.

But then Shoaib Bashir, he seems to be in good rhythm.

There's a lot of time that's been invested in Shoaib Bashir, and you kind of, like, feel that he's a central contracted player, that maybe, you know, Bangladesh could be that series that gives his confidence back, and suddenly he takes a few wickets on those spinning pitches, and then suddenly, you know, there's a bit more healthy competition.

But at the moment, you know, with experience and someone who we're not talking about enough is Jack Leach.

But only concern is...

And, and I find him quite lazy in the field as well.

Um, whereas when he pulls on an England shirt, Bosch, you know, he's, he's pulling out wickets left, right, and center.

But Rob, that's, that's a good point.

And just to sort of build on your, your point there and Sam, so Rob and I were lucky enough that we've seen Ollie Robbins.

So they, they like the all-round package there.

The guy who they may continue sticking with, Shoaib Bashir, has taken 24 division two wickets at 42 for Derbyshire.

So this idea that he is still the man is, is being tested on a regular [laughs] basis by now division two county batsmen, not just test batsmen.

So, and he can't bat, and he can't field very well.

Um, the two test matches in Bangladesh, I, I think you've gotta take what you believe is your best spinner.

Marcus North recently came out and said that Sh- Shoaib Bashir is still England's number one spinner.

I totally disagree.

I think Jack Leach is England's number one spinner by a distance.

... picked him the first time.

So I don't think you should be ruling out people like Dom Bess, certainly not Jack Leach.

Um, and, and I personally would pick them over Shoaib Bashir because I just don't think Shoib's done quite enough.

He's played a bit for Derbyshire.

And then, look, finally, and I want to kind of probably throw this to Stu, is...

The other part of this whole equation is then balancing that bowling attack and particularly with England at the moment, what do they do with a spinner? It seems to me it's going to be a really, really big luxury to be picking a Shoaib Bashir, who is a genuine number 11.

who often won't bowl in the first innings when the conditions are conducive to, you know, a little bit of early morning nip, etc.

You know, you win the toss field, which again, that happens a lot more now in the toss and field, doesn't it? so I think all those questions mean you know it's more about that balance but you know what what if England were getting on a plane to New Zealand which do least like to see I think in terms of the makeup of that team probably answers the question as to what we should do for South Africa