"Go and look at film of Lyon bowling" - Sir Geoffrey Boycott's advice to Shoaib Bashir after 1st ENG vs SL Test
Former England captain Sir Geoffrey Boycott has advised young spinner Shoaib Bashir to watch videos of and learn from Nathan Lyon, who he called "the best off-spinner in world cricket by a long way." Bashir took three wickets in the first innings of the Old Trafford Test against Sri Lanka but went wicketless in the second as England registered a clinical win on the fourth day.
He seemed to offer much more control when the Sri Lankans were looking to play him out on the first morning but when they switched their plans and started using their feet against him in the second innings, his deliveries got quite inconsistent.
"At the moment the best off-spinner in world cricket by a long way is Nathan Lyon, with 530 wickets at 30 runs each," Boycott wrote in The Telegraph. "My advice would be go and look at film of Lyon bowling. He gets close to the stumps so he can find a touch of drift away from the batsman with his action but he aims to pitch outside off stump to spin back and hit the stumps. His straight-on ball brings slip in play and he has a short square leg for the bat/pad nick. That way he can beat right-handers inside and outside of the bat."
"Shoaib Bashir has talent and can get better. He is tall with a fluid high action that will create occasional bounce on hard pitches together with a natural loop. My impression is he is not clear on what line he should be bowling so he tries all sorts of deliveries searching for a wicket," he continued.
Boycott added that Bashir needs to learn to match great lines with lengths to avoid giving away easy runs on the leg side and releasing pressure.
"If Shane didn’t get you out, the batsmen had very few hittable balls" - Boycott on what Bashir can learn
Boycott further cited the example of Shane Warne and how willing he was to learn. The legendary batter said Bashir needs to understand that he can't go searching for wickets all the time and instead develop a stock ball, which he can use to keep the batters quiet and build pressure.
"Before he was a star, the young Shane Warne asked Richie Benaud for advice. Richie said learn a stock ball that you can bowl at will. He didn’t tell him to learn to bowl a googly, a top spinner, a flipper or a slider. It was a stock ball he could drop on a sixpence. That way even if Shane didn’t get you out, the batsmen had very few hittable balls and the pressure mounted on them," Boycott wrote in his column.
Although England lacked razor-sharp control in their bowling, a significant first-innings lead and a superior batting performance in the second meant they could chase Sri Lanka's 204 to register the win. The second Test will begin on Thursday, August 29, at Lord's.