Huge blow for West Indies as best cricketer suffers a terrible injury against England
“I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the selection of Bashir as England’s premier spinner,” Van der Gucht said. “What type of bowler and role do you believe they envisage for him? Defensive and closing up loose ends? Using his additional bounce to attack?
“England seem to never really grasp or trust spin, especially legspin, and (apart from Swann) appear to mainly deploy spinners as a backup to hold the economy down when the pace department is failing. Imagine Rashid receiving the same love, backing, and support in testing as Morgan did in the short form. How excellent could he’ve gotten? Similarly, imagine if Stokes had the same mindset now and supported Rehan Ahmed.”
With the proviso that I don’t know what I’m talking about, it appears that they chose him with Australia in mind, where bounce is often as essential as spin. There are some similarities to Nathan Lyon, who receives a lot of overspin. However, I doubt Stokes will ever utilize his spinner defensively, as evidenced by his approach toward mid-off and mid-on. Rehan is still only 19 (19!) years old, and I am confident he will be part of Pakistan’s squad this winter. I wouldn’t rule out Tom Hartley either, especially given his ability to bat. But I’m not sure how he would do in Australia.
