Jack Leach is England’s best spinner, says Lyon while also saying current spinner Shoaib Bashir has been okay.
Nathan Lyon: ‘In my eyes, Jack Leach is still England’s best spinner’.
Nathan Lyon, the greatest offspinner in Australia’s history, claims that offspinner Shoaib Bashir, England’s injured No. 1 spinner and probable 2025–2026 Ashes visitor, “has been okay” and that left-arm spinner Jack Leach is still the country’s finest spinner.
Former England seamer James Anderson told Lyon that Bashir had been chosen to try and emulate Lyon’s style in Australia, Lyon said during a Cricket Australia sponsorship announcement in Sydney on Thursday. Lyon, meanwhile, thinks Leach is still England’s finest spinner.
“I obviously played with Jimmy Anderson last year at Lancashire, and they basically said that they’re picking Bashir to do what I do,” Lyon said. “So I took a little bit of pride out of Jimmy respecting a little bit of what I’ve been able to do in my career. But Bashir has been okay.
“Jacob Bethell is playing this Test match [at The Oval against India], and he looks like he’ll take up the spin bowling from Liam Dawson. But in my eyes, Jack Leach is still their best spinner.”
The 34-year-old Leach hasn’t played for England since the tour of Pakistan last year, when he had a lacklustre series in comparison to Sajid Khan and Noman Ali, who led Pakistan to victory in the last two Test matches. Bashir’s nine wickets at 49.55 and 79.44, respectively, were still well below Leach’s performance of 16 wickets at an average of 31.43 and a strike rate of 50.75 in three Test matches in that series.
Since then, England has pledged to use Bashir as their top spinner in their last three series, which they have played against India, Zimbabwe, and New Zealand. After eight years in the Test wilderness, Liam Dawson returned as England’s only spinner for the fourth Test in Manchester after suffering a finger injury that ended the series in the Lord’s Test of the current series against India. Since then, England has selected Jacob Bethell as a part-time left-arm spin alternative and four fast bowlers in place of Dawson for the fifth and final Test match at The Oval.