Image Credit- AFP
In response to
Brendon McCullum’s appeal for game time for England’s young spinners,
Somerset’s head coach has suggested that Shoaib Bashir might be permitted to
move abroad on loan.
Despite having little experience in the county game, Bashir and Tom Hartley
have flourished in India, and McCullum stated earlier this week that it would
be “slightly mad” if they did not have more opportunities in the
upcoming season.
Although McCullum
expressed his desire to watch Bashir and Jack Leach bowl simultaneously at
Somerset, Jason Kerr stated that such a scenario was improbable for the opening
of the County Championship given the springtime circumstances, which typically
favour seam bowling.
“It’s certainly
not easy but I always try and put myself in the player’s shoes and what they
want is to play cricket,” Kerr told the Press Association. “We start
the season on April 5 and I’d be surprised if too many teams are playing two specialist
spinners. So I understand there will be some questions about it.
“Bash will be on cloud nine right now and riding that. He would have seen
the world very differently at the start of the winter than he does now that
he’s had international opportunities and done very well. So it’s important to
have really honest, transparent conversations.”
After making an
impression for the 2nd XI and playing six times in the Championship, where he
took ten wickets at a rate of 67.00, Bashir was only signed by Somerset at the
beginning of the previous summer. Since then, he has surpassed that total in
two Test matches for England, but Leach, the team’s senior spinner, who
suffered a knee injury on the way back from the tour of India, is expected to
push him back down the ladder.
“There’s still a lot of water to go under the bridge, but what I’m not
going to do is stand in the way of anyone’s opportunity,” Kerr said.