Nathan Lyon picks wily Jack Leach over "okay" Shoaib Bashir for England

Have the Ashes mind games already started?

Offspinner Bashir has seemingly emerged as the front-line tweaker for England in recent times, being preferred ahead of the now 34-year-old Leach.

The pair actually had a bowl-off of sorts when they toured Pakistan in 2024. The three test series saw Leach bag 16 wickets at an average of 31.43, eclipsing Bashir's nine wickets at 49.55. However, the lanky 21-year-old was preferred over Leach for series against New Zealand, Zimbabwe and most recently, India.

Bashir suffered a serious finger injury in the Lord’s test and has been ruled out for the remainder of the India series.

Nonetheless, speaking at a Cricket Australia sponsorship announcement in Sydney on Thursday, Lyon favours Leach over Bashir.

"I obviously played with Jimmy Anderson last year at Lancashire, and they basically said that they're picking Bashir to do what I do," said Test veteran with 562 scalps.  

"So I took a little bit of pride out of Jimmy respecting a little bit of what I've been able to do in my career. But Bashir has been okay.

"Jacob Bethell is playing this Test match [at The Oval against India], and he looks like he'll take up the spin bowling from Liam Dawson. But in my eyes, Jack Leach is still their best spinner."

Lyon will no doubt have a crucial role to play in the Australian lineup in the upcoming Ashes series Down Under.