England went all-in on the Shoaib Bashir punt, but their gamble has quietly unravelled to leave both them and him exposed with few options available.
Bashir hasn’t yet played a single Test in Australia, but has effectively been dropped. For 18 months, ever since he was fast-tracked to Test honours in India, the Ashes have been pointed to as where it would all make sense, where those natural attributes would be at their most effective. Instead, he has found himself simultaneously surplus to requirements and not quite good enough to get a look in.
Few eyebrows were raised when he was left out on a quick deck in Perth, especially when the game lasted just two days. Some were heightened when Will Jacks came in at Adelaide, although Nathan Lyon’s omission threw a fire blanket over them. But his absence in Adelaide, on a pitch expected to turn, a game which could go the distance and faced with days of sweltering heat for England’s fragile and worn down pack of fast-bowlers to battle, has brought a sharp halt to the path Bashir has been following since he first pulled on an England shirt.
That path began when Bashir was catapulted into England’s Test side from the relative anonymity of life making his way through the ranks at Somerset. His selection came with extraordinary noise for a 20-year-old, which was heightened by the furore around delays to his visa which meant he was unable to travel with the rest of the squad to India. By the time he did arrive, his senior county partner Jack Leach had already been injured out of the series, and he debuted in Visakhapatnam as part of a spin attack with three previous Test caps combined. That he not only survived but impressed under those conditions set high expectations that England are now reassessing.
🗣️ "It does feel like a crazy situation that there's every chance he won't play in a live Test match in this series."
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) December 15, 2025
Perth ❌
Brisbane ❌
Adelaide ❌
What next for England's Shoaib Bashir project? 🏴
🤝 @TimothyTaylors #Ashes pic.twitter.com/xeO0Y65a8N
Bashir was genuinely impressive in India and the narrative around him amplified his impact. His inexperience heightened the potential of where his ceiling could be, and his physical attributes – long fingers and height – offered an explanation behind Bashir as a point of difference prospect. He offered England a long-term project, and when he claimed a fourth-innings five-for against West Indies the following summer, that vision gained more colour. Bashir would be England’s Ashes spinner, someone capable eventually of bowling sides out on the final day of a Test, who could spend the next year figuring out Test match cricket.
The sideshow, however, continued to bubble. There was little scope for Bashir to displace Leach at Somerset, and the introduction of Archie Vaughan further blocked his path. Bashir has played so little first-class cricket outside of Test matches, he’s constantly been battling a time to wrack up experience. Some frankly dire numbers during loan spells have done little to strengthen his case and, having been effectively released by Somerset, he has few options to secure a county contract for next season.
What has sustained him has been England’s backing, particularly from Ben Stokes. All through a difficult tour of Pakistan last winter and an underwhelming start to the home summer, the messaging around Bashir as England’s No.1 has been consistent. That backing clearly gave Bashir the confidence to perform in an England shirt. All of his first-class five-fors have come in Test matches, in which he has 68 wickets from 19 appearances. In his other 16 first-class fixtures, he has 19 wickets in total. Stokes brings the best out in Bashir, perhaps because he’s the kind of character valued by the England environment. His ability to put the collective above himself in big moments was on display at Lord’s earlier this year, where he bowled through a badly broken finger to dismiss Mohammed Siraj and seal a dramatic win.
In hindsight, those missed matches at the end of the summer were pivotal. At Manchester, England went for experience, selecting Liam Dawson. When Dawson couldn’t force a result on day five and Stokes went down injured for the next Test, Jacob Bethell came in as a part-timer who, in combination with Joe Root, was able to cover a pace attack which went a man down on day one. That balance, and the potential that Stokes would not make it through all five Tests in Australia, shifted something in England’s Ashes plans. When the squad for Australia was named it was a part-timer Jacks, plucked from the ranks after a timely few matches in Surrey’s Championship side and a decent white-ball run, who got the nod.
The beatings England have taken in the first two Tests have proved that calculation. Against Australia, Bashir won’t be more effective than a fourth seamer, and his contribution won’t outweigh what Jacks offers combined with bat and ball. His struggles on the Lions tour — 2 for 266 across two matches — only underlined that.
With his omission at Adelaide, Bashir’s status is unclear. Stokes’ was non-committal about his place in the pecking order when asked yesterday (December 15), but the outlook is bleak. The Ashes which were meant to be Bashir’s making could blow through without him, and if he does feature, there’s a strong chance the urn will already be gone. Even if he does come back in Melbourne or Sydney, how much of the confidence built over the last 18 months will remain?
He has no county contract waiting for him back home and 10 months left on his central contract with his Test progress at a halt. Without playing a single game, he stands on the brink of fading into the shadows of the other English spinners consigned to the Australian graveyard.
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