Shoaib Bashir has been assured he remains England's first-choice spinner, despite being omitted from the second Ashes Test in Brisbane in favour of Will Jacks. Captain Ben Stokes explained the decision was tactical, citing the unique challenges of a day-night match at the Gabba and Jacks's superior batting ability.
Stokes said: '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. 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.' He added that Bashir knows he is the man for that role.
Bashir will play for the Lions in their unofficial Test against Australia A starting in Brisbane on Friday, alongside Jacob Bethell. Jacks replaces Mark Wood in the only change to the team that lost the first Test in Perth inside two days. Wood has been ruled out due to soreness in his left knee, which required surgery earlier this year, but remains with the squad and hopes to feature in the later Tests.
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, and the same thing kept on coming up, which was just that he was an absolute belter of a bloke,' Stokes said. He noted that Smith had been in Perth recently, speaking to the Lions, making the news harder to process.
