Former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott did not mince words while discussing Will Jacks’ selection and performance in the second Test of the ongoing Ashes series. Jacks was chosen ahead of Josh Tongue and Shoaib Bashir to replace Mark Wood for the pink-ball match.
Boycott appreciated Jacks’ 41-run knock and the one-handed screamer he used to dismiss Steve Smith, but he criticised the all-rounder’s bowling performance.
“Will Jacks took an amazing one-handed catch to get rid of the dangerous Steve Smith and in the second innings, he made a gutsy 41. But if he is a Test match cricketer, no disrespect intended but he is a hit-and-giggle batter in T20s and my mum could play his bowling with my proverbial stick of rhubarb. There is no oomph or variation,” Boycott wrote in his column for The Telegraph.
The 85-year-old emphasised that England missed a trick in not playing a frontline spinner instead of Will Jacks.
As per Boycott, doing that would have meant making optimum use of the conditions on offer.
“In that energy-sapping heat, when the ball got soft and old, a proper spinner was required to save flogging the quicks. England had three fast bowlers and Stokes to bowl seam. What they required was a quality spinner and for me, England made a mistake in selection,” he added.
Jacks was the fifth bowler to be brought on by Ben Stokes in Australia’s first innings. Although he ended up with economical figures of 1/34 in 11.2 overs, Jacks was unable to threaten the batters. He picked up the 10th wicket of the innings, that of Brendan Doggett (13 off 21).
Although Jacks’ performance was not entirely underwhelming, it will be intriguing to see whether he features for England in the third Test, which will be played at the Adelaide Oval from December 17.
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