Shoaib Bashir Aims To Maintain Impressive Career Progress
When the England Test team was announced for the five match series against India that took place earlier this year, there was one name that stood out against the rest.
Although there were three players who hadn’t appeared for England at Test level, Shoaib Bashir was the only one to have never represented his country in either white-ball or red-ball cricket – although that would be little surprise given his relative lack of experience.
At the age of 20-years-old, Bashir’s call-up to the international stage came on the back of just six first-class games for Somerset, having only made his debut in the County Championship in June.
Alongside those six games, where he picked up ten wickets, Bashir would appear in five matches as Somerset won the T20 Blast for the first time since 2005, leading to an opportunity to join the England Lions squad for winter training in the UAE.
The Lions are effectively the second-tier outfit below the full Test team, and seen as a development squad where players can gain experience – although few would have expected Bashir to be promoted so quickly.
Ben Stokes had however pushed for Bashir to get his opportunity and it proved to be a wise move when fellow Somerset bowler Jack Leach was ruled out by injury after the first Test.
Bashir would go on to play in three of the five tests and ended up as England’s second-highest wicket-taker in the series, picking up 17 wickets at an average of 33.35.
“Getting the call to play for your country is a big thing, and it was quite an emotional moment,” he said. “It’s turned out to be a really special year for me as two years ago, I probably didn’t expect to even be playing professional cricket.
“Now I’m playing in the County Championship for Somerset and have made my debut for England, so it’s all been quite surreal.
“When I first got the England call-up, I didn’t expect to play as much as I did and it was a real shame for Leachy that he got injured like he did. I get on really well with him and we have a good relationship, and he has helped me to learn and develop my skills.
“He even handed my first cap, which was a nice touch.”
Bashir’s success in India was partly down to the nature of the pitches being used for the five Test series, which were more spinner-friendly than those traditionally found in the UK.
There was however the additional challenge of facing off against two of the top eight batsman in the ICC World Ranking in the shape of Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal; the latter being the top scorer in the series with 712 runs at an average of 89.
“The pitches out there were better suited to my game, but at the same time, I was up against some of the best batsmen so it was a huge challenge,” he said. “I was able to learn a lot from being involved in a squad alongside experienced people like Joe Root and Ben Stokes, and I feel I learned a lot about both my bowling and my character during the tour, which leaves me excited for the future.”
Bashir has appeared in three of Somerset’s first five games in the County Championship so far this year, with his goal through the remainder of the season being on maximising his own game time and helping his team to further success.
“On a personal level, I want to try and play as much first team cricket as I possibly can this season to maintain the progress I’ve made over the last twelve months,” he said.
“As a club, the focus has to be on trying to build on the positive results we gained last year and try and push ourselves higher up the order. Obviously winning the Blast last year was great, and it would good to least try and do that again.”
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