Counties would be mad not to pick young spinners, says Baz
BRENDON McCULLUM has pleaded with counties to provide opportunities this summer for the young spinners making names for themselves in India, saying they would be mad not to pick them.
Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir were plucked by England from virtual county obscurity to take on world-class players of spin here and have taken 32 wickets between them in the first four Tests.
Now the England boss wants Lancashire and Somerset — and Leicestershire in the case of Rehan Ahmed — to give them a chance in the early County Championship matches in April and May.
‘It will be frustrating if they weren’t given opportunities at county level,’ said McCullum in the wake of England’s fourth Test defeat that gave India a decisive 3-1 series lead.
‘There’s a very real possibility of that being the case, but, without wanting to dictate to counties, I think you’d be slightly mad if you didn’t give them more opportunities.’
The situation is complicated by the fact that early season conditions usually lead to only one spinner per team, a major factor in England’s lack of depth. Bashir will be up against his England colleague Jack Leach, as long as he has recovered from knee surgery to start the season, at Taunton while Lancashire have just signed Australia’s Nathan Lyon.
But McCullum believes the development of Bashir and Hartley will be hindered if they return home and are cast into the early season wilderness.
‘Everyone gets better with more time on the tools,’ said the England coach. ‘There are two guys there more than good enough for international cricket.
‘It doesn’t get any harder than it is right now and they’ve both stood up and performed.’ McCullum revealed Ollie Robinson suffered another back issue while making his first Test half-century in Ranchi and confirmed Jonny Bairstow, who has had a difficult series, will keep his place and make his 100th Test appearance in the last game of the series, which begins a week on Thursday in Dharamshala.
‘He’s done some special things for us and even in this last Test I thought he played a couple of reasonably important hands,’ said McCullum of Bairstow.
‘As much as it’s hard to say when you’re 3-1 down, I do believe this team is a better one than 18 months ago and we’re poised for something that could be quite special. It’s not a bad time to be coach of the England team.’