Bashir’s flurry of wickets seal England’s series win
young guy to come out and put in a performance that wins England a Test match, it’s pretty cool for him.”
Bashir now has three five-wicket hauls in his first five appearances for his country, after taking two on turning tracks in India over the winter. But his selection was still something of a gamble by England, with Stokes heavily involved in the decision.
At the start of the season Bashir found himself behind Jack Leach in the Somerset pecking order, with the more experienced man expected to get the nod in the Test side too. Bashir’s chances were limited enough for him to take a loan move to Worcestershire last month, but England chose to bet on him anyway.
And Stokes’ satisfaction at seeing the call pay off was clear.
“It’s been a really strange couple of months for him since India, having to go out on loan through circumstances that are completely understandable,” he said.
“That’s where communication comes into play and where I’ve got to take responsibility and speak to Bash. I picked up the phone to him and we had a good 20-25 minute chat around everything.
“The decisions we make are all based around not only how far we think their talent can take them, but whether we think they’re good enough for international cricket straight away.
“If you think you can identify talent, you can throw them into an international environment and give them the confidence, that they’re going to progress really quickly.
“I don’t want to sound like it’s an ‘I told you so’ kind of thing but it sort of is.”
Stokes also joked about reducing Bashir to a ‘thanks for coming’ outing in the first Test and revealed head coach Brendon McCullum tried to get him into the game.
“It was a ‘TFC’, yeah,” he laughed. “Every time we came in for a break Baz was going ‘this is Bash, if you haven’t met him already’. It’s all fun and games but Bash just loves being in this dressing room, he loves the fact that he’s part of the group and he loves the fact he’s out there playing for England.
“This week we were just telling him to show off his skills and I thought he did that.”
Bashir helped himself to his flurry of wickets after hundreds from Joe Root and Harry Brook had set up England’s series-clinching 241-run win at Trent Bridge.
Root and Brook, the long-reigning king of England’s batting unit and his heir apparent, reeled off classy centuries to pave the way for a sprint to victory on the fourth evening of this second Test. Chasing an unlikely target of 385, the tourists were demolished for 143 in just 36.1 overs.
It was a perfect finale for England’s first home Test without Stuart Broad or James Anderson since 2012. England’s attack was in clinical mood as they forced a dramatic Caribbean collapse from 61 without loss.
Chris Woakes got things moving by dismissing both openers, Mark
Wood added a dash of raw pace and Gus Atkinson picked up two.
But it was fitting for Bashir, the youngest member of a revamped XI, to applying the killer blow as he clean bowled Shamar Joseph to the delight of the Nottingham crowd.
England are 2-0 with one to play at Edgbaston starting on Friday, securing their first series win since December 2022.