Why Jacks has been picked over Bashir for Adelaide Test

With Will Jacks maintaining his spot in the England line-up, Alison Mitchell expects that he’ll be required to play a significant role in the third Test.

The batting all-rounder who offers right-arm off-spin was brought in to play the second Test in Brisbane for the injured Mark Wood.

And in his first Test in three years, Jacks managed to be the most economical of the English bowlers during the first innings. And, in the second innings alongside Ben Stokes, he manages to form some resistance in England’s second innings, making 41 runs.

After that performance, he has kept his spot in the side for the third Test over specialist spinner Shoaib Bashir, with Mitchell giving her opinion on why the English selectors chose Jacks.

“I feel it is probably a little bit two-fold,” the Channel 7 cricket commentator said on SEN’s Afternoons.

“One, the sense of Bashir hasn’t quite looked in sorts and in rhythm and has certainly struggled a bit in the warm-up matches and by all accounts hasn’t looked in rhythm even in the nets in the lead up here in Adelaide.

“And then, coupled with England’s frailties with the bat, mistakes of their own making, a lot of them.

"But Will Jacks coming in does add more to that batting line-up if England aren’t able to execute their skills and play with their brains (and be) more switched on than they have done so far.

“So, he bolsters that batting and he saw how well he bedded in and dug in with Stokes, so whether that also played into it, you know, impressing the captain with that obdurate innings that he played alongside him.

Jacks, like he was in Brisbane, will be the lead spinner for the visitors.

But on a more spin-friendly surface in the Adelaide Oval, it will mean that he will be relied upon a lot compared to his previous appearance.

“Jacks is going to have to suddenly go from zero first-class cricket (this season), he barely played and had a finger injury in the lead-up to this tour, even,” she continued.

“But he’s now going to have to bowl a lot, not only because the way the ball will grip and will offer turn, we know in Adelaide with Nathan Lyon being the leading wicket taker there.

“But also, how hot it is going to be. Given it is going to be 37-38 degrees on day two, the fast bowlers are going to need more rest bite.

“So, you want a spinner that can actually bowl and contain, and Australia has the luxury of a bowler who can contain but is attacking and takes wickets and is a genuine threat."

The third Test gets underway on December 17 with SEN having LIVE coverage of every ball bowled throughout the series on its radio network and on the SEN app.