Shoaib Bashir and Mark Butcher

Following England's win over West Indies in the second Test of the sides' three-match series, former-England batter Mark Butcher heaped praise on off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, calling him "the real deal" in Test cricket.

England secured a 241-run victory against West Indies inside four days at Trent Bridge. In a high-scoring encounter, the visitors were set 385 to win in the fourth innings, but crumbled to 143 all out, courtesy of Shoaib Bashir's 5-41. In doing so, Bashir became the first spinner since Muthiah Muralidaran in 2006 to take a Test five-for at the venue.

Butcher: Bashir is the real deal

Speaking on the Wisden Cricket Weekly podcast on Monday (July 22), Mark Butcher was full of praise for the off-spinner, forecasting a bright future for him. Butcher said, "I think so, I think he is [the real deal]. I think you could see it even in the first innings, towards the back end when the ball was flying around a little bit more. He lost a little bit of consistency, dragged a few balls down, but I think there was enough on show.

"When the pitch was flat as anything and and not turning at all, he had the control and the variety in terms of flight and whatever to be a very good bowler.

"And then of course you give him that situation in the second innings where there is now some rough there is some wear and there is some turn and you can see how bloody difficult he can be to play because of his height, pace, bounce."

Butcher: Stokes is a great captain for Bashir to work with

Butcher went on to praise the role of England captain Ben Stokes in Bashir's success. "He's also got a brilliant captain in in Ben Stokes to work with," he said. "He's very sympathetic, I think, as a captain but also understands how to allow you to bowl good balls that don't get knocked for ones, and batters can't just sit there and milk you and make you feel like you're not kind of having any effect at all.

"He (Bashir) is able to to bowl tightly enough and his captain is able to set fields which allow his good balls not to go for runs meaning that batters then have to have a little bit of a dip at him, which they're encouraged to do because Stokes won't put the field back.

"You know, it's a great combination having the skill from the bowler's hand but also having a captain who understands how that whole thing works. They might make a very good partnership between them going forward."

Bashir was thrown into the deep end when he made his England debut in India earlier this year, but emerged from that tour with flying colours, picking up 17 wickets in three matches. He was not called upon to bowl at all in the first Test against West Indies but his performance at Trent Bridge was one to savour.

The third Test between England and West Indies is scheduled to start on July 26 in Birmingham. 

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