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'Go And Look At A Film About Lyon Bowling': Geoffrey Boycott Tells ENG's Shoaib Bashir

Geoffrey Boycott shared his word of advice for Shoaib Bashir (X.com)Geoffrey Boycott shared his word of advice for Shoaib Bashir (X.com)

Geoffrey Boycott, a seasoned cricketer with a wealth of experience, has shared his valuable advice with young spinner Shoaib Bashir. He has suggested that Bashir should study Nathan Lyon's bowling techniques to refine his skills. 

The 20-year-old spinner, Shoaib Bashir, made his debut in February this year against India in Vishakhapatnam. With an impressive record of 29 wickets from seven Tests at an average of 32.55, he has shown great potential for the future. 

In the first Test match against Sri Lanka, Bashir picked up three wickets during the first innings but failed to pick any in the second innings. He looked much more in control when the Lankans were looking to play against him on the opening day; however, that changed when Dhananjaya de Silva and co began using their feet against him in the second innings. 

To improve in such situations, Shoaib could work on his line and length, and also practice variations in his flight and pace.

He can get better says ENG Great

"At the moment the best off-spinner in world cricket by a long way is Nathan Lyon, with 530 wickets at 30 runs each. My advice would be to go and look at a film about Lyon bowling. He gets close to the stumps so he can find a touch of drift away from the batsman with his action but he aims to pitch outside off stump to spin back," Boycott wrote in his column for The Telegraph.

"Shoaib Bashir has talent and can get better. He is tall with a fluid high action that will create occasional bounce on hard pitches together with a natural loop. My impression is he is not clear on what line he should be bowling so he tries all sorts of deliveries searching for a wicket," Boycott added.

He also gave an example of legendary bowler Shane Warne and how he was always willing to learn and get better.

"Before he was a star, the young Shane Warne asked Richie Benaud for advice. Richie said to learn a stock ball that you can bowl at will. He didn’t tell him to learn to bowl a googly, a top spinner, a flipper or a slider. It was a stock ball he could drop on a sixpence," Boycott said.

Meanwhile, the second Test is scheduled to begin from 29 August at Lords.