20 years old England National Cricket Team off-spinner Shoaib Bashir dismantled the stumps of 32-year-old Sri Lanka National Cricket Team seamer Prabath Jayasuriya in the second Test of the three-match series at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London on Friday (August 30).
Bashir has emerged as England’s first-choice player in the Baseball era, and he has received a lot of support from his captain Ben Stokes, who is currently out of action due to injury. Shoaib Bashir also returned his captain’s faith by scoring important wickets for the team and contributing significantly to the victories.
He performed well in the opening match of the series against Sri Lanka at Old Trafford in Manchester as he recorded bowling figures of 3/55 in the first innings before going wicketless (0/77) in the second innings.
Meanwhile, in the Lord’s Test, Shoaib Bashir took his first wicket in the 44th over of the match. In the last ball, Bashir spun Jayasuriya at 82 kmph. The Sri Lankan came down the track to play the shot, missed the delivery completely and the ball spun sharply, beating the inside edge and hitting the top of the leg stump.
Prabath Jayasuriya was cleaned up with 46 balls for 8 runs by England National Cricket Team spinner. And his dismissal left Sri Lanka struggling at 153/8.
Watch: Shoaib Bashir demolishes Prabath Jayasuriya’s stumps
Brilliant from the start
pic.twitter.com/k3qOjaYVVC
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 30, 2024
It’s just beautiful bowling – Michael Vaughan hails Shoaib Bashir
Bashir’s dismissal of Jayasuriya impressed former England captain Michael Vaughan while speaking on BBC Test Match Special, who said the youngster bowled beautifully. He elaborated:
“It’s just beautiful bowling. A bit slower, a bit more flight and it goes through the wicket. Shoaib Bashir must have seen the signal that Jayasuriya was coming at him.
“He wasn’t scoring but Kamindu was doing his job catching Mendis’s end. It’s maddening for an ‘in’ batsman to see a shot like that.”
Michael Vaughan said a spinner-friendly pitch will worry Sri Lanka as they are still well short of England’s first innings score of 427. He said:
“There are encouraging signs for the spinners. For every ball that spins, the Sri Lankan captain will think, honey!.”
Michael Vaughan also said that the Three Lions would be in big trouble if they batted last on the field given the amount of help the spinners received during the match. He also praised Ollie Pope’s captaincy in the game.
“There’s enough for a spinner there and that brings me back to batting again. If England were forced to bat last on this pitch, Prabath Jayasuriya would have been right in the game,” he said, as quoted by the BBC.
“The bowlers were superb and Ollie Pope maneuvered his pieces brilliantly. Two wickets caught in the leg slip was a great tactic.”
