Ben Stokes has praised Shoaib Bashir’s breakthrough performance as he became the youngest England player to play a five-a-side Test on home soil. The skipper said the 20-year-old bowler “showed the world what he can do” as West Indies were bowled out for 143 and won the second Test by 241 runs.
“That wicket has done little to help the spinners throughout the Test match and, to be honest, I don’t think it has done anything to help today,” Stokes said.
“The way he changes speed, topspin, backspin – he showed all his skills today. He has so much talent, his ceiling is so high and he has an unbelievable desire and will to become Better and learn. The great thing about Bash is that if you see him get hit in the head, he starts smiling and then he’s fine. I like the way it doesn’t affect him.
It was Bashir’s 15th first-class match, having been promoted to the Test squad during the winter tour of India, and his selection for this series when he was not even in the county team was considered by many to be premature .
“We make decisions based not only on how far their talent will take them, but also because we think they are good enough to play international cricket immediately,” Stokes said.
“A good way to look at it is that this is their worst case scenario. If you think you can identify talent and put them into an international environment and give them confidence, give them support, they will improve very quickly.
“Bash showed everyone what he can do in India, the conditions were favorable to him there, but seven wickets on this wicket and the way he bowled – I don’t want to say it’s ‘I told Over you’ kind of thing, but it kind of is.
West Indies spent the better part of 11 games trying to get themselves into a position where they could win the match, only to end up losing the match in one over. “I’m disappointed because we know we can do better than what we showed,” their captain Craig Brathwaite said.
Newsletter Promotion Post
quick guide
How do I sign up for sports breaking news alerts?
exhibit
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for “The Guardian.”
- If you already have the Guardian app installed, make sure you’re using the latest version.
- In the Guardian app, click the Menu button in the lower right corner, then go to Settings (gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on motion notifications.
“The most important thing is to learn from it. This game is gone, it’s history and we can’t bring it back. Cricket always brings challenges.
“We can say the distance is not far, but learning is important. We have five Test matches left this year. We will continue to learn and we will be better by the end of the year.
