Nottingham, July 22 (IANS): England captain Ben Stokes heaped praise on young spinner Shoaib Bashir after his series-clinching figures of 5-41 in second innings that handed the hosts 241-run victory against West Indies at Trent Bridge on Sunday.
England have taken an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series. Bashir played a huge role in setting up mammoth victory as he became the youngest English bowler to take a five-fer in a home Test and also the first spinner to take five wickets in a Test innings at the Nottingham venue since 2006.
"He has got so much talent and he's got an unbelievable desire to get better," Stokes said of Bashir after the match. "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."
Bashir's rise from relative obscurity has been well known. He was spotted and selected for the India trip earlier this year after England captain Stokes watched recordings of him bowling to Alastair Cook on X (previously Twitter). Despite not being a regular for Somerset, the youthful offspinner's 2.35-metre release point and length control were thought critical for a hard trip of the subcontinent.
Bashir confirmed his inspired selection pick with 17 wickets in three Tests in India, including five-fers in Ranchi and Dharamsala. In contrast, Somerset loaned Bashir to Worcestershire at the start of this County Championship season, with Jack Leach selected as the sole spinner. However, Stokes, Brendon McMullum, and Rob Key chose Bashir over Leach, the current spin bowling leader, for the West Indies series.
"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.
"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."
While Bashir took all the credit on the final day of the Test, Stokes praised Mark Wood, whose 28 overs yielded only two wickets. While the England captain did not say if his pace ace would be rested for the last game of the series, he predicted that certain opponents would face Wood's intensity this summer.
"On another day, Woody could have got Man of the Match, the way that he bowled was just phenomenal," Stokes said. "He's not got the rewards this game, but someone will pay eventually this summer. In batting we talk a lot about partnerships, and it's the same thing with bowling. You look at the amount of wickets at the other end when Woody was bowling his spells, that's the effect that a bowler like Woody can have.
"He's got the heart of a lion, he'll run in ball after ball after ball for us. And his pace is just phenomenal but it's the skill that he's got as well, to be able to consistently hit a certain area, with batters always thinking 'when is it coming at my head?"
The third and final Test of the series will be played at Edgbaston from July 26.