Shoaib Bashir showed a real character with three wickets on day two against Zimbabwe, but the young spinner must continue to show signs of improvement to capture a place in the ashes, writes Nasser Hussain

This is a large year for Shoaib Bashir.

He is no longer the beginner that England has chosen from scratch after he noticed him Twitter Make his debut at the District Championship for Somerset in 2023.

This is now his 16th test competition and, which came to Trent Bridge, an average of 40 with the ball for England. After a while, those statistics must go in the right direction. You can’t just keep saying that he finds his way or that he is a work in progress.

It is also a difficult start of the season for Bashir in County Cricket. He is loaned to Glamorgan and only took two wickets in three games on an average of 152.

Of India Comes and then axisThe pressure is on him. But with all that in mind, I thought he showed a real character against Zimbabwe on Friday.

After his enchantment started with a full throw, and a few complete throwing in his first three overs, you feared a bit for him. But he came back to get three wickets, two of which were of real quality.

Shoaib Bashir bounced back from a shaky start to take three wickets against Zimbabwe on day two at Trent Bridge

Tafadzwa Tsiga was rejected with a delivery reminiscent of the resignation of Graeme Swann about Ricky Ponting in the ash in Edgbaston in 2009

The ball with whom he received Craig Erhine was exactly why England chose him in the first place and a nice drop with that high release point and the left-handed driving.

Still encouraging, however, was the ball that bowed Tafadzwa Tsiga. It was a classic off-spinners’ dismissal of a right-handed, bowling that attacking line, encouraging the drive and bowling the batsman through the gate.

It reminded me of the way Graeme Swann turned Ricky Ponting in the Ashes in Edgbaston in 2009.

If the ball turns, that attacking line must be the stock episode of Bashir on the right -handed because these two edges of the bat brings.

In the past he has been guilty of straight bowling, which means that the only way he can reject the right hand is caught on short leg or leg slip.

Bashir’s biggest problem, however, remains its control. It’s a bit like when Swann made his debut in England under my captain, when he was a little young and naive. You saw that he had something, but he didn’t have that control.

With a wrist spinner you accept that there might be a strange bad ball, but you can’t afford that from a finger spinner, especially in a first innings when you often need a holder.

With the way in which the fields have been in Australia lately, England has the opportunity to enter the ashes with an all-seam attack.

Bashir’s biggest problem remains its control. He must prove that he can keep an end to make the sailors of England rotate

I wouldn’t do that. I would always like a spinner in Australia. But if it doesn’t get big, you need your spinner to continue 20 overs a day and keep an end so that you can rotate your sailors on the other side.

That is what Bashir must prove that he can do against India if he wants to play in the ashes.

There is something talking about the fact that he left the team to find a place for Jacob Bethell, who can still give England a spider option. But I think that would be too much of a fudge.

Bashir is worthy to persist – but he must continue to show signs of improvement.