By Cameron Ponsonby, 春梦直播 Reporters Network
What did you learn to do in lockdown? Many of us baked, some of us drank, others exercised and Will Jacks bowled.
Jacks鈥� bowling has been an overnight sensation that has been years in the making. Where he counts hours, weeks and years spent in the nets honing his craft, the rest of us are the grandparents who see him come back each season six inches taller than when he last left us.
And my, hasn鈥檛 he grown. Having first bowled with any form of regularity for Surrey in 2020, he took his first red-ball wicket in 2021 and then this year has leapfrogged both Amar Virdi of England Lions fame and Daniel Moriarty, who took three five-wicket hauls last season, to become Surrey鈥檚 premier spinner.
Head coach Gareth Batty even alluded to Jacks鈥� ability to become the next Moeen Ali. Ripping them big and whacking them far.
鈥淚 used to bowl seam when I was an early teenager,鈥� Jacks said.
鈥淎nd when I was about 15 my school coach said, these are pretty average, they鈥檙e not really doing anything for you in the long term and it鈥檚 just going to hurt your body. Why don鈥檛 you give offies a go?
鈥淎nd then when I turned pro at 18 or 19 I bowled them, but it wasn鈥檛 an idea that I could do a job for the Surrey first team. It鈥檚 just been years in the process really.鈥�
Jacks pinpoints returning from Covid in 2020 as not so much the turning point for his bowling but the moment the accelerator was hit, as Batty pushed him to realise that he had the raw attributes to be the real deal.
Bowling would make him better for Surrey, and in turn help him stand out from the otherwise 鈥楥trl+C, Ctrl+V鈥� top order white-ball batters who are also pursuing England honours.
Furthermore, it鈥檚 worth noting that professional cricketers often improve through osmosis. Jacks鈥� bowling wasn鈥檛 at a professional level when he first signed, but over time, given the environment he was in, he almost couldn鈥檛 help but reach it.
He cites bowling to the likes of Ollie Pope and Hashim Amla every day as a key contributor to his success and growing confidence, not to mention the constant presence of off spin jedi master Batty as his coach and mentor.
鈥淭he margin is so small,鈥� Jacks explains of bowling to Amla and Pope on Surrey鈥檚 nibbly green training wickets, which are 鈥渧irtually impossible鈥� to take wickets on.
鈥淪o when you do get that right and spin one through the gate, that gives you the confidence when you go out there and there鈥檚 a bit of rough on the wicket and you鈥檙e not bowling against international legends like Amla.鈥�
Bowling to Darth Vader in the nets whilst the offspin Yoda is watching over your shoulder. Obi Jacks Kenobi.聽
Jacks is keen to stress that he is an all-rounder whose primary role is still as a batter. But the result of such a rapid improvement to his second string has been that his role across formats has varied sharply.
This season in the LV= Insurance County Championship he has batted as low as nine, whilst in the Vitality Blast, the tournament in which he first earned his stripes as a bowler, he is yet to send down a single over whilst continuing his fine form with the bat at the top of the order
His lack of bowling is in part due to the depth of Surrey and the arrival of Sunil Narine, a bowler Jacks describes as 鈥渁lmost hard to talk to because they are so much better than everyone else鈥�.
But it is also because the Blast takes place earlier in the season, so that on fresher wickets more seam than spin has been bowled.
Spin in the powerplay, Jacks explains, used to be the novelty that was hard to hit. But now 鈥渋f it's not spinning and you don鈥檛 bowl mystery spin you鈥檙e in the firing line. It鈥檚 going to be harder to hit a bloke bowling 85mph at the top of the stumps, which is just common sense now I think.
鈥淚f me and Jason [Roy] are walking out to bat and the off-spinner is bowling the first over we鈥檙e licking our lips.鈥�
It鈥檚 a thought process that summarises the social status of off spin in the game. The batter who can鈥檛 wait to face it, whilst also bowling it themselves.
鈥淭he generic thought of batters and everyone who plays is that offies are really easy to bowl and anyone can do it,鈥� Jacks smiles.
鈥淏ut I think it depends on what you bowl. I think if in T20 cricket you run up and bowl 60mph darts, in my opinion anyone can do that. But the real skill is using pace and guile and changing where you are on the crease and the angles to get someone out when it鈥檚 not spinning. That's what I think the skill is in bowling off spin.
鈥淚 probably didn鈥檛 appreciate it that much but then we were playing at Beckenham on a bit of a spinner a few weeks ago [a game where Jacks himself took a career best four for 65] and Sam Curran bowled two overs of left-arm offies and he was absolutely bad at it. And that made me think, ah, maybe I鈥檓 actually all right at this.鈥�
As understatements go, it is what you would expect from a player too modest to recognise his own rate of improvement and achievements. But us proud grandparents would say that wouldn鈥檛 we? After all, they grow up so fast.
To book tickets to this summer's Vitality Blast, visit this link.