‘Backed Into a Corner’: Patel on Why England Chose Will Jacks Over Shoaib Bashir

The failure of England's bowling lineup in the Adelaide test has raised various questions about the selection. Many fans are slamming the decision to pick Will Jacks over Shoaib Bashir, who is a genuine off-spin bowler. The performance of Jacks in the third Ashes test has been very poor, so fans are asking why he was given precedence over Shoaib Bashir in the lineup.

The spin bowling coach of England, Jeetan Patel, has said that the management picked Jacks for the third test because they were "backed into a corner" by the team's batting struggles. This is certainly a key concern for England because they have shown pathetic performance with the bat in the first two tests of the series.

Speaking to the media, Patel said that England needed a batting cover, which is why they picked Will Jacks to bolster the batting order.

"We were backed into a corner having to play Jacksy by the fact that the first two pitches we played on have done a lot, and we probably needed that extra batting cover. I think everyone can understand that.” said spin bowling coach of England, Jeetan Patel.

He then admitted that Shoaib Bashir is the number one spinner in England’s lineup, so his opportunity will come sooner or later.

"But Bash is certainly, well in my eyes and I think everyone's eyes on our side, is 100 per cent the number one spinner and what he does is a fantastic job for this team." said Jeetan Patel.

The performance of Will Jacks in bowling has remained pretty ordinary. He failed to show control with the ball, which gave Australia too many easy runs in the match. In contrast to that, Nathan Lyon once again proved his class with the ball. He made batting difficult for England by keeping things tight during his overs.

The spin bowling coach of England thinks otherwise. He believes Jacks hasn’t bowled poorly in the match, apart from a few bad overs. He credited Australia’s batting lineup, saying they managed Jacks well by using their footwork effectively.

"I don't think he's bowled overly poorly. He may have missed a little bit short or a little bit straight every now and then. I think the way they've played Jacks has been fantastic. They've used their feet, they've got deep in the crease, they've used the leg side and the offside." said Jeetan Patel.

He further applauded the innings of Alex Carey, saying that he put pressure on Jacks by playing shots smartly. He challenged England’s field settings with unorthodox strokes, which added significant pressure on the bowling lineup.

"Head is a fantastic player all round but the way I thought Alex Carey played him (Jacks) in the first innings sort of put some pressure back on us in terms of the fields we needed to set and the questions we needed to answer.” said Jeetan Patel.

"I think he's bowled ok. Going forward, we're going to have to keep finding ways for him to do a bit better." added Jeetan Patel.

Will Jacks Falls Short of Expectations

Former England captain Nasser Hussain said that England picked Jacks over Bashir because of his superior batting abilities. Unfortunately, he couldn’t perform well with the bat, and his bowling also fell short of expectations.

"You (Atherton) said before the game, if they are bowling the same, Bashir and Jacks, then you have to go Jacks because of the batting and the fielding. I'd say Bashir is in a bad place if he's bowling worse than Jacks at the moment." said former England captain Nasser Hussain.

He then applauded Nathan Lyon for showing better control with the ball, saying that he was the real difference between the two teams in the Adelaide test.

"Jacks couldn't hold any pressure at all. Lyon yesterday, he got two wickets in his opening over, but didn't pick up any more, but only went for two and a half runs and over. And we mentioned yesterday, in 40 degree heat, how important he was just in allowing the seamers to operate in shorter bursts.” said Nasser Hussain.

"Jacks, in particular to left handers, and I don't know why this is, seems to struggle with his line more. He got picked off both sides, got cut a lot. He conceded more than 100 in the end, more than five and a half runs and over, and that's a massive difference." concluded Nasser Hussain.