England captain Ben Stokes has insisted that Shoaib Bashir remains the team’s first-choice spinner, despite the decision to select Will Jacks for the second Ashes Test in Brisbane. Speaking on the eve of the day-night match at the Gabba, Stokes explained that the choice was influenced by the unique conditions and Jacks’s superior batting ability.
“We tried to look at how we thought spin was going to be used, and there was a bit of a tactical element to it,” Stokes said. “Jacksy’s ability with the bat, to have that down the order for us is useful as well. But if it ever comes down to picking our best, No 1 spinner, selection will go the other way.”
Bashir will instead play for the Lions in their unofficial Test against Australia A, starting in Brisbane on Friday, alongside Jacob Bethell. The only change to the team that lost the first Test in Perth is the inclusion of Jacks in place of Mark Wood, who has been ruled out due to soreness in his left knee, which required surgery earlier this year. Wood remains with the squad and hopes to feature in the latter part of the series.
Stokes also paid tribute to former England batter Robin Smith, who died on Tuesday. “I didn’t know him overly well, but I knew quite a lot of people who did know him very well, who played a lot of cricket with him, and the same thing kept on coming up, which was just that he was an absolute belter of a bloke,” Stokes said.
