Somerset may contemplate loaning out budding England star Shoaib Bashir this summer, with head coach Jason Kerr contemplating how to best manage the spinner’s next step in his career.
Bashir was fast-tracked into India’s Test team after only six first-class matches and has rapidly adjusted to his new circumstances, taking 12 wickets in two mature outings for his country.
The ECB has recognized the 20-year-old as a player with tremendous long-term promise, but with his road to first-team cricket at Taunton blocked by Jack Leach, who is presently recuperating from knee surgery but still England’s first-choice slow bowler, his immediate future is less apparent.
Test head coach Brendon McCullum said last week it would be “slightly mad” if Bashir and Lancashire’s Tom Hartley, who has Australia’s Nathan Lyon in his way at Old Trafford, were kept on the sidelines in the county season and Kerr appreciates the dilemma.
“It’s certainly not easy but I always try and put myself in the player’s shoes and what they want is to play cricket,” he told the PA news agency.
“Bash will be on cloud nine right now and riding that. He would have seen the world very differently at the start of the winter than he does now that he’s had international opportunities and done very well. So it’s important to have really honest, transparent conversations.
