England’s squad for their Test series in India in the New Year dropped as I sat in the offices of VFS Global in London on Monday waiting to lodge my application for a visa for the tour.
At the time, I was sitting next to another cricket journalist from a national newspaper. His reaction to the call-up of unknown spinner Shoaib Bashir said it all: “I had to Google him.”
He wasn’t the only one as England made perhaps the most left-field selection for any tour in a generation. Even Rob Key, who as England’s director of men’s cricket sits at the head of the selection panel, admitted he had only spotted Bashir on an app created for coaches at the England & Wales Cricket Board.
The “Depth app” collates highlights from players and analyses their form and readiness for national selection.
A review from techmonitor.ai in 2021 reads: “The app draws from ECB’s data lake, together with its vast library of video archives, and integrates up-to-date data from other applications including the medical records system to provide a player’s injury status.
“If a cricketer has been playing in a match that is being scored using the ECB’s Play Cricket Scorer app, their performance data is updated in close to real time.
“With all this data in one place, selectors can call up the ‘depth charts’ and compare players by category as well as gauging a players’ ‘current readiness’ and ‘future potential’.”
Bashir was spotted on this app – perhaps a first for an England national team in any sport as Key and the ECB put their faith in technology rather than human scouting on the ground.
If anyone was to look at Bashir’s raw stats – the traditional method of selection along with scouting – it’s doubtful whether he’d get into many county teams.
At the age of 20 he has played six first-class games and taken 10 wickets at an average of 67. The numbers are underwhelming.
Bashir’s fast-tracked route to England selection is not only strange but unique.
At 17, he was released by Surrey. He then got his break when playing for Berkshire Under-18s, taking five for 26 in a 50-over semi-final against Somerset in August of last year.
He was given a two-match trial in the second team by Somerset off the back of that performance and another five-wicket haul, this time against Warwickshire, led to a contract offer.
Still, Bashir was playing for Taunton Deane in the West of England Premier League six months ago before his County Championship debut for Somerset against Essex at Chelmsford.
His figures from that match were unremarkable – one for 182 across 49 overs during a 196-run defeat for Somerset.
Yet his first over of the match, where he twice beat the edge of Sir Alastair Cook, England’s all-time leading runscorer, caught the attention of those who matter.
Key, tapping into the footage on his app, was one of them and despite Bashir’s limited and modest first-class career, he was picked out as a potential star.
“It’s very hard, especially for spinners in English cricket, to judge them on their numbers,” said Key. “You’re trying to see something else and back their character.
“You want to see how the ball comes out of their hand and make those judgements. You’re going more to the art of selection, rather than the science of selection. It’s more of a feel.”
Bashir’s call-up certainly points to the fact that England now deem performances in county cricket to be largely irrelevant when it comes to international selection.
England like Bashir for the India series because like Tom Hartley, the other uncapped spinner in the squad who has a first-class average of 36 from 20 games, he is 6ft 4in and can bowl quicker than most spinners.
Key and Test coach Brendon McCullum were impressed with Bashir on the recent England Lions training camp in Abu Dhabi, where he took six for 42 in a match against Afghanistan A.
Key admits Bashir is “raw” and is unlikely to start the series against India, with fit-again Jack Leach, teenage leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed and Hartley all ahead of him in the spinning pecking order.
But England won’t be afraid to pick him, with Key admitting this gut selection was also made because he has faith that McCullum and captain Ben Stokes can get the best out of Bashir.
“You back that environment,” said Key. “With Stokesy’s captaincy in particular, your bet is often that he’ll be the one who can get something out of these players.”
The gamble, though, is huge.
India is the hardest place to go to and win in the world. Spin will play a big part and regardless of gut feel, nothing can prepare you for the task of taking on the best players of spin in the world. “It can be different if you’re bowling at Virat Kohli out in India in front of 50,000 people,” admitted Key.
Bashir may well have that experience very soon. England’s high-stakes, unorthodox selection method will be judged on how he fares.