When discussing Will Jacks‘ selection and performance in the second Test of the current Ashes, former England cricketer Geoffrey Boycott was blunt. Jacks was selected for the pink-ball match in place of Mark Wood, ahead of Josh Tongue and Shoaib Bashir.
Boycott was scathing of the all-rounder’s bowling effort, although he did appreciate Jacks’ 41-run knock and the one-handed screamer he used to dismiss Steve Smith.
Will Jacks made a valiant 41 in the second inning after making a spectacular one-handed catch to remove the dangerous Steve Smith. With all due respect, he is a hit-and-giggle batter in Twenty20 cricket, and my mother could play his bowling with my proverbial stick of rhubarb if he were a Test match cricket player. In his piece for The Telegraph, Boycott stated, “There is no oomph or variation.”
The 85-year-old highlighted that by not using a frontline spinner in place of Will, England lost a trick. According to Boycott, doing so would have required taking full advantage of the available conditions.
When the ball became old and soft in that energy-draining heat, a competent spinner was needed to avoid flogging the quicks. Stokes bowled seam, and England had three quick bowlers. They needed a good spinner, and I think England made a selection error,” he continued.
Ben Stokes used Jacks as his fifth bowler during Australia’s opening innings. Jacks failed to intimidate the hitters despite finishing with economical figures of 1/34 in 11.2 overs. Brendan Doggett (13 off 21) was the tenth wicket he took throughout the innings.
Even though Jacks didn’t have a particularly poor performance, it will be interesting to see if he plays for England in the third Test, which begins on December 17 at the Adelaide Oval.
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