It was gone 7pm at the Gabba before England’s first proper night-time net really got going, and only about 20 curious locals bothered to stick around. They chose well. The outdoor practice lanes here sit almost on the pavement, so anyone can wander up and look straight down the track at a fast bowler charging in. On Monday it was Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson flinging the pink Kookaburra at full tilt and, at times, into the side netting.
The real selection intrigue, though, unfolded in the far lane. Ben Stokes spent the best part of half an hour facing Shoaib Bashir and Will Jacks, both bowling off-spin, both effectively auditioning for what now feels like the final place in the XI for Thursday’s second Ashes Test.
Mark Wood is out – the left knee is sore again and England would rather wrap him in cotton wool for Adelaide – so ten of the eleven who lost in Perth are expected to go again. The one vacancy is split neatly in two. If England stick to the all-pace plan, Josh Tongue is the obvious in; if they want spin, it is Bashir or Jacks.
A shift towards spin is gathering some pace. Coaches feel the pink ball goes soft sooner than the red, making raw pace slightly less menacing once the lacquer wears off. “It doesn’t keep biting like the red ball,” one member of the back-room staff remarked quietly between drills.
That, plus the need for variety, has pushed Bashir to the front of the queue. The 23-year-old has become Stokes’ trusted spinner since that surprise India call-up early last year, taking 68 wickets in 19 Tests. His bounce – high release, ripping over-spin – tends to travel well on firmer decks.
Jacks, 18 months older and a genuine all-rounder, had first crack at raw Test off-spin on the 2022 Pakistan tour. Six for 161 on debut in Rawalpindi remains on his CV, as does an emergency stint at No.3 in Multan when Ollie Pope’s legs had turned to jelly after a long keeping shift. Selectors like the dual skill-set: powerful, top-order batting plus tall, ambitious spin.
In Monday’s session Jacks arguably shaded it: a couple beat Stokes on the inside edge, and one delivery spat past off stump loud enough to draw a murmur from the watching analysts. Nets, of course, tell only part of the story. This was first and foremost about acclimatising to the glare of the floodlights, the odd shadow on the grass, and the distinctive white seam that can suddenly disappear after dusk. England will run a repeat under lights on Wednesday before signing off the XI.
History does not scream “pick a spinner”. Visiting slow bowlers have taken just 28 pink-ball wickets in Australia at an average of 64.03. Joe Root’s three in Adelaide on the 2021-22 trip leave him joint-second on the overall list, level with Yasir Shah; Dawid Malan sneaks in joint-fourth with two from the same match. Only R Ashwin, with six at 20.66, has made a real dent.
Still, Nathan Lyon’s recent success with the pink – and the fact he routinely bowls from over the wicket into the rough at Adelaide – has not gone unnoticed by Stokes and Brendon McCullum. They are less fussed by the raw averages than by game situations: the mere presence of a specialist spinner can steady over-rates and buy gaps for the quicks to recharge.
Tongue, for his part, shifted well in the warm-ups, so nothing is locked in. Should seam win the argument, he bowls that handy full length which drags edges in Brisbane. But a decision is close. Stokes is expected to sleep on it, see how the pitch looks at Wednesday’s captain’s run, and then give the chosen player fair warning.
“It’ll come down to the balance we feel we need,” assistant coach Paul Collingwood said last week, and that line still holds. One way or another England must correct the 1-0 scoreline. Whether they do so with an all-pace barrage or by bringing spin back under lights, we should find out about an hour before the toss on Thursday – by which time the pink ball will already be glowing in the outfield.
