Somerset’s England spinner Shoaib Bashir has joined Glamorgan on loan for the first three matches of the County Championship season.
The temporary switch will give Bashir valuable game time ahead of England’s Test summer, which starts with a one-off fixture against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge on May 22 before a five-match series versus India begins at Headingley on June 20.
The 21-year-old is behind Jack Leach in the pecking order at Somerset while Michael Vaughan’s son, Archie, is emerging as an off-spinning all-rounder for the Taunton team.
Bashir has become England’s first-choice Test spinner
Bashir – who has taken 49 wickets in 15 Test matches sine debuting in India in February 2024 – is set to play for Glamorgan in Division Two fixtures at home to Leicestershire from April 4 and then away to Gloucestershire (April 11) and Middlesex (April 18), covering for the injured Mason Crane.
He spent a spell on loan at Worcestershire in the 2024 season.
Bashir had played only six first-class game before his Test debut and was selected mainly on potential, with England liking his high release point from a 6ft 4in frame.
The spinner bagged 17 wickets in three Tests, including two five-fors, on the tour of India before nine scalps in three games at home to West Indies included a career-best 5-41.
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Bashir took a career-best 5-41 in England’s win over West Indies at Trent Bridge last summer
However, in subsequent series at home to Sri Lanka and in Pakistan and New Zealand, Bashir has picked up 23 wickets in nine Tests at an average of 50.26.
England view him as someone who could succeed in Australia in next winter’s Ashes and he got a look at conditions while touring the country with Andrew Flintoff’s England Lions earlier this year.
Bashir scooped four wickets in five games on that trip, including 1-74 from 19 overs in the unofficial Test against Australia A which England Lions lost by an innings and 10 runs.
Watch England’s international summer live on Sky Sports, starting with the one-off Test against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge from May 22-25. Stream cricket, including the IPL, and more with NOW.
