Shoaib Bashir didn’t have a great tour of Pakistan but bounced back with four wickets in the first innings in Christchurch. There was a dollop of fortune about his haul, but four wickets are four wickets.
The Basin Reserve pitch, green on Wednesday, started to show brown patches on Thursday. The weather is warm and Wellington is famously windy. The surface will get drier as the match progresses.
New Zealand have opted against the inclusion of Mitchell Santner and left their spin bowling to Glenn Phillips, possibly with a bit of Rachin Ravindra thrown in. Bashir is the only specialist in the match.
Home captain Tom Latham pointed to domestic matches at the Basin, yet the last time these two sides played here Jack Leach took eight wickets in the match, albeit he had to bowl more than 60 overs in the second innings because James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson were on their knees.
In the last Test on this ground, Australia’s win in March, 17 wickets fell to spin including 10 for Nathan Lyon. Aussie skipper Pat Cummins talked of the bounce in the pitch, which should have 6ft 4in Bashir licking his lips.
Bashir is a rarity in this England team: a one-dimensional cricketer. He is the only genuine tailender in the XI and his fielding needs work – he made a number of errors in the first Test. On Thursday he was practising boundary catches, belted by assistant coach Jeetan Patel.
There could be the opportunity for Bashir to build on Christchurch and play a telling role with the ball.
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