The curse of modern cricket – young stars who can’t get a county game

Over the course of a county season, an alarming amount of cricket takes place at Taunton with two of Somerset’s most promising young players mere observers.

Will Smeed and Shoaib Bashir can count themselves fortunate to be forging professional paths in the present era. Indeed, Smeed last year admitted he would likely have been moved on from his childhood county if the game remained as it had always been: all high elbows and occupying the crease.

Without short formats and franchises, Bazball and hunches, both might currently be seeking alternative occupation. Instead, while one merrily flays bowlers in the T20 Blast and the other awaits a return to his “happy place” of international duty, the duo continue to embody very modern cricketing phenomena – at once flourishing and struggling – the unique trajectories of their fledgling careers emblematic of the sport’s new world.

“The game has evolved,” says Andy Hurry, Somerset’s director of cricket. “I’ve been involved for two decades and it’s taken a quite significant shift in the past 18 months to two years.

“How people see the game now is fundamentally different to how we used to look at it. Me being a bit of a dinosaur, it did challenge me initially, but we all need to evolve.

“There’s definitely a different way in which players are now getting selected for England, and definitely a different approach in how players are seeing they will make their way in the game compared to maybe four or five years ago.”

As of this week, after the opening of what is effectively county cricket’s transfer window on June 1, Bashir is free to negotiate an alternative domestic employer willing to gamble on one of English cricket’s biggest paradoxes: the world-class spinner who cannot take county wickets.

In claiming a career-best nine-wicket haul against Zimbabwe last month, the 21-year-old became the youngest Englishman to notch 50 Test scalps, repaying the unwavering faith in him shown by captain Ben Stokes over the past 18 months. “I walk into this England team and I feel 10 feet tall because of the backing I get,” said Bashir.

His domestic dilemmas are twofold: that he cannot pick up a game for Somerset – who prefer his England predecessor Jack Leach and the all-round abilities of Archie Vaughan – and his failure to capitalise when he does elsewhere. Most recently, that was at Glamorgan, where Bashir ended a short early season loan period with three County Championship wickets at 152 apiece – the worst average by any Division Two wicket-taker. Last season, he was also sent for a brief stint at Worcestershire.

Over the course of his career, he averages 84 in the County Championship and 36 in Tests; more than 75% of his first-class wickets have come in an England shirt.

“It’s fascinating, and the reality is I don’t think there is a scientific explanation for it,” says Hurry, suggesting pitch quality, bowlers’ footmarks and longer matches might all be potential factors.

“Historically, performances in first-class cricket would have led to selection for the national team. Now, there’s an element of performances, but also personal attributes and the conditions of Test cricket. That’s the evolution of the game.”

The unsustainability of Bashir’s Somerset predicament is widely acknowledged, with Hurry admitting “it’s not an ideal situation when a player isn’t playing”. Bashir is not expected to remain at Taunton next year. Smeed will be there, longing to belatedly make his mark at last in all formats of the game, two years after effectively retiring from red-ball cricket before even making his first-class debut.

In the intervening period, he has featured for T20 franchises in England, South Africa, the UAE, Pakistan and West Indies, as well as a number of T10 competitions worldwide, revelling in the opportunities available for the modern-day gun for hire. But that has not satisfied  the desires of a man who scored his maiden Somerset second XI red-ball century aged 16, prompting a reversal of his previous decision ahead of this current campaign and a return to an all-format deal with his county.

A rare entire summer will be spent at Taunton, although it was not until last week – and the start of the T20 Blast – that he was given the chance to pull on a first-team shirt, immediately showcasing his talent for the short-form game with two match-winning knocks. Like Bashir, opportunities to force his way into Somerset’s County Championship side have so far proved elusive and the wait for a first-class debut goes on.

“I’m desperate to play more cricket than I did last summer,” Smeed said when announcing his decision to return to the red-ball game.

It is a simple desire that Bashir can relate to. Two cricketers prospering all over the world, just yearning for a chance at home.

Photographs by Paul Harding/Harry Trump/ECB via Getty Images