Having watched him smash an unbeaten 41-ball century for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in April 2024, AB de Villiers tweeted “Will Jacks has always been the answer”. Exactly what the question was is unclear, but it probably wasn’t “who should England’s frontline spinner be for an Ashes Test which will define the legacy of a generation and its philosophy?”.
After two years’ preparation for this series and three-and-a-half years of Bazball, desperation has driven Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum to a T20 opener and unproven spinner who has played five first-class matches since 2023. There have somehow been suggestions that Jacks’ selection is an act of puritanical pragmatism, rather than a proclamation to the world that they choose the young man’s death. This is the Charge of the Height Brigade.
Michael Vaughan called picking Jacks “very un-Bazball”, when really this is the most Bazball thing imaginable, all vibes and big forearms and boom or bust. Jacks hit the three biggest sixes in the 2024 SA20. He’s a close friend of Harry Brook having played for England U19 with him, and a Surrey teammate of three of the starting XI. He’s played two Tests – both in Pakistan in 2022, where he took six for 141 thanks to some self-destructive tail slogging – totalling 57 red-ball matches ever. If he takes a wicket in Brisbane, it would be his 50th first-class pole. Evidence is for wimps. Swing harder. Bat deeper. Don’t back down, double down. Welcome to the delicious unknown.
Of course, the superficial logic behind this is basically sound. Pink balls tend to soften rapidly after 30 overs, and the quicks will tire easily in the oppressive Brisbane heat. Nathan Lyon averages 25 in day-night Tests in Australia. The reasoning behind picking a frontline spinner is clear. Whether Jacks meets that bar is less clear, although years of working with Gareth Batty have obviously progressed his game.
And anyway, this selection is more about batting, McCullum and Stokes’s trauma response to watching the entire XI self-immolate in Perth. Jacks scored 119 off 94 balls for Surrey at No 6 this summer in one of his three red-ball matches. Jofra Archer is the only player in England’s lineup with a Test batting average below 21, whereas Australia might have four averaging under 13, even if Jake Weatherald is the victim of a difficult debut. In theory, Jacks at No 8 is an insurance policy for your insurance policy. Surely Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes, Jamie Smith and Will Jacks can’t fail. Right, guys? Gus Atkinson at nine has a Test century.
“Since coming into the squad in Pakistan and starting off very, very well, he’s turned himself into a cricketer I always thought he could be,” Stokes said of Jacks on Wednesday. “He’s incredibly talented, and I think he’s gone from strength to strength since that Pakistan tour.“He’s been playing so well in the nets, and the time he’s been out here training. It’s great for us that we’ve got someone who’s looking in pretty good order coming into a big Test match.”
His selection comes at the expense of Shoaib Bashir and Jacob Bethell, who will play for the Lions against Australia A at Allan Border Field – Brisbane’s second ground – in a four-day game starting on Friday. The temptation is to call this a death knell for Bashir’s international career, although at 22 he still has more than enough time to retire as England’s most prolific spinner, even if that feels increasingly difficult to imagine.
But still averaging 39 after 19 Tests, it remains impossible to judge how good he actually is at this. Stokes said that he remains England’s “No 1 spinner” and suggested he still has a role to play Down Under, but if selecting Bashir went wrong, there would be no risk of redemption as both the weakest bat and fielder in this squad. At least if Jacks gets scattered around the Gabba, he can grab a spectacular 14 off 12 balls before top edging to third man. Meanwhile everyone has spent so long dragging Bethell round the world and telling him how fabulous he’s going to be that he’s now more ornament than cricketer.
And of course, this might well all just be deckchairs on the Titanic, the pilot straightening his tie as he freefalls earthwards. Australia are the closest thing in the sport to a pink-ball specialist side – they have played 14 of the 24 day-night matches ever, hosting 13 – with the foremost pink-ball bowler in Mitchell Starc. Scott Boland averages 13.16 with a pink ball, Pat Cummins 17.34 if he declares himself miraculously fit.
From England’s perspective, when the vast majority of available evidence is based on your opponents’ success, you automatically start on the back foot. And anyway, they last won at the Gabba in November 1986 and have spent 10 days ruminating on a generationally cataclysmic defeat. This matters too much to everyone involved, a global referendum on their self-worth and beliefs and being. Maybe, just maybe, Will Jacks has always been the answer. But what’s the question?
Photograph by Robbie Stephenson/PA Wire