This is why England are considering radical step of picking Will Jacks

Make no mistake, this would be revolutionary. In modern times England have rarely gone into a Test in Australia without a frontline spinner — and that term certainly cannot apply to Jacks, who averages fewer than 12 overs and one wicket per first-class appearance.

On the most recent Ashes tour, in 2021-22, they did it in the particular circumstances of two pink-ball Tests in Adelaide and Hobart (Root and David Malan providing the spin support), but before that the only other instances in the past 35 years occurred in 1998-99 at Perth and then in Melbourne, where England’s seamers secured a famous 12-run victory.

It would be easy — but wrong — to say that England are contemplating going down this route because there is a dearth of spin talent in the domestic game. This may be part of the story; the limitations at the highest level of two of the most effective figures in county cricket, Jack Leach and Liam Dawson, are well documented. But the truth is that even their best spinners have found the going tough in Australia: Graeme Swann took his wickets there at 53, Monty Panesar at 49 and Moeen Ali at 115.

Nor is this exclusively an English problem. Visiting spin bowlers across the board, especially finger spinners, rarely make much of an impact. This century, India spinners average 43 in Australia, those from Sri Lanka and New Zealand average 47, England 60, and Pakistan, South Africa and West Indies 66.

Since 1990, the only ones to take 20 wickets at below 40 have both been wrist spinners, Pakistan’s Mushtaq Ahmed and India’s Anil Kumble. This does make it somewhat odd that England did not prefer Rehan Ahmed, also a wrist spinner, to Jacks as the spin-bowling all-rounder who could, in Key’s words, “bowl a few overs along with Joe Root” if Bashir was not needed.

Admittedly, Key did add that Ahmed will be a member of the Lions squad shadowing the main party in the early weeks of the tour, adding: “So there is a chance for Rehan to get across to our set-up pretty quickly.”

As Bill “Tiger” O’Reilly, Richie Benaud and Shane Warne amply demonstrated, Australian pitches are typically most conducive to wrist spin, chiefly because of the bounce on offer. If they are to exploit that same bounce, finger spinners need to be tall and capable of generating overspin, which is why Nathan Lyon has been so successful, and why England have put their faith in Bashir (6ft 5in) and Jacks (6ft 1in).

Jacks, crucially, has a high release point in a way that Ahmed, for instance, does not, being only 5ft 8in; additionally, he bowls with his arm beyond the perpendicular, a feature that England favour (especially in their fast bowlers) as it challenges the right-hander’s stumps more.

What is certain is that England would not be exploring the Jacks option were it not for the fact that conditions in Australia have changed a lot in the past few years. The Kookaburra balls have tended to have prouder seams and the pitches are typically greener and spicier than before. This is one reason why Australia’s batsmen have struggled of late. Steve Smith says he has never known life as tough for top-order batsmen.

This has meant shorter games dominated by pace bowlers, with spinners having less work to do. The shift was first evident during the 2021-22 Ashes tour, when there was only one team score of more than 425 in the series, and England never reached 300 despite Pat Cummins missing one Test and Josh Hazlewood four. Since the start of that series, Lyon averages 32 overs per home Test whereas previously he was getting through 43 overs a game.

Key referenced the recent history of Test cricket in Australia a number of times in announcing his squad and the evidence brooks little argument: pace bowling fares better than spin at all the venues England will be playing at, and at everywhere except Sydney has provided around three-quarters of all the overs bowled, if not more.

England, though, must beware fixating on the power of pace simply because that is where their strength lies. Their attack is certainly likely to be the faster provided Jofra Archer and Mark Wood play reasonably full parts. And if Lyon’s 32 overs per game is a marker, England must still decide where they want their 30 or so overs coming from — Bashir, or a combination of Jacks, Root and possibly Jacob Bethell?

Ricky Ponting, it should be noted, recently said in The Sunday Times that he would pick Bashir regardless of conditions, and expected him to pick up wickets if Australia went after him as relief from facing Archer and Wood. “Perth and Brisbane will bounce for him,” he said. “He’s the most similar to Nathan Lyon and he’ll have Mitchell Starc’s footmarks to bowl at. You need overspin and you’re in the game.”

That said, Jacks looks the likelier choice for at least the day-night Test in Brisbane — venue for the second match of the series — where spin seems sure to take a back seat and a lower order of Jamie Smith, Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Wood and Archer would look stronger than anything England have put out in Australia since Andrew Strauss’s side won 15 years ago. That could prove crucial in what might be a low-scoring game.

Key appears to be considering also leaving out Bashir at Perth. The series opens at the new Optus Stadium where England have not played a Test before and he will have noted the recent defeats inflicted on Australia there and at the Gabba.

India won a huge victory in Perth by 295 runs last November, when their seamers shared Australia’s first 17 wickets and their sole spinner, Washington Sundar, played only a minor role. West Indies secured an even more notable triumph when they won a pink-ball Test in Brisbane — so long a fortress for Australian pace — in January 2024, with the speed trio of Kemar Roach, Alzarri Joseph and Shamar Joseph doing almost all the damage. They deployed just eight overs of spin.

Jacks may have an important secondary role as a means of balancing the team should Ben Stokes be unavailable at any point, as must be possible given his fitness issues. With Jacks rather than Bashir providing the spin, there would still be room for four seamers. Hence Key saying Jacks “offers a lot of different options”.

Things have changed since England’s series victories in Australia depended on the likes of John Emburey and Phil Edmonds, in 1986-87, and Swann, in 2010-11, providing long periods of control for hard-won rewards.

If England were to come out on top this time, arguably not since Len Hutton’s side of 1954-55 would they have done so down under with an attack so heavily reliant on pace. Hutton, of course, was widely condemned for not including a spinner in the opener in Brisbane, where Australia won decisively, but ultimately his reliance on the speed of Frank Tyson and Brian Statham was vindicated. England are plotting a repeat.

Click here to read article