England Coach McCullum Advocates for County Opportunities for Hartley and Bashir

England head coach Brendon McCullum has expressed his hope that Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir will get more opportunities following their breakthrough tour of India. Despite India taking an unassailable 3-1 lead against the Ben Stokes-led side, Hartley and Bashir have been bright spots in the series.

“It will be a slight frustration of ours if they weren’t given opportunities at County level. When you see performances like we have out of those two bowlers throughout the series, I think you’d be slightly mad if you didn’t give them more opportunities in county cricket,” McCullum said.

He expressed his belief that Hartley and Bashir will earn various opportunities, either in the County Championship or for the national side, due to their impressive performances throughout the series. McCullum praised both players for their skills and character, stating that they are more than good enough for international cricket.

“It would be nice to think they’d get plenty of opportunities so that they can improve at a quicker rate. Whether those opportunities are with counties or with England, I think we’ve just got to keep trying to get cricket into them. Whatever opportunity we can, we’ll try and give it to them because these two guys are more than good enough for international cricket. They’re also tough characters.”

“What you can’t tell from the outside of a man’s body is the size of their heart – and we’ve seen both of them have big hearts and they’re up for international cricket. It doesn’t get any harder than it is right now, and they’ve both stood up and performed, so we’ve just to keep giving both of them chances,” he added.

McCullum also suggested that clubs create surfaces that promote turn more, which he feels will improve the skill sets of players and increase entertainment value. He believes that having players like Bashir and Leach able to operate in spinning conditions at Somerset, and Hartley and Lyon bowling together at Lancashire, would be great for spectators.

As much as England’s about playing on good wickets and having the ball move off the seam, it should also be about playing on spinning wickets too. If we lived in a world where we could have both Bash and Leachy able to operate in spinning conditions at Somerset, and Hartley and Lyon could bowl together at Lancashire, I think that would be a great viewing point for spectators,” the head coach concluded.

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