Former England batter Mark Butcher believes Will Jacks has a "really big future as a bowler" after the all-rounder impressed on his Test debut against Pakistan, picking up 3-132 on a lifeless Rawalpindi pitch.
While Jacks made his name primarily as an explosive batter in the shorter formats, he has worked hard to develop his off-spin and played an important role as Surrey won this year's County Championship.
Gareth Batty, Surrey's head coach and a former England spinner himself, backed Jacks to be their frontline spinner and tipped him to emulate Moeen Ali, who retired as England's third most successful Test spinner despite being more of a batter when he made his international debut.
Jacks was not named in England's original starting XI for this Test, with Liam Livingstone preferred to offer support to Jack Leach as the second spinner. However, illness meant wicketkeeper Ben Foakes unable to play and Jacks was handed his debut.
The 24-year-old, like all the England bowlers, toiled hard on an incredibly flat surface but took three crucial wickets, including centurions Abdullah Shafique and Babar Azam. With Livingstone unable to bowl due to a knee injury which could end his series prematurely, Jacks picked up the slack and delivered 33 overs while Leach bowled 42.
And both Butcher and Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara were hugely impressed by his performance with the ball. "The stark difference between Leach and Jacks, there is an apparent lack of venom from Leach," Butcher said on Sky Sports.
"Jacks can maintain that length wide of the off stump and there is energy on it, so he manages to get bounces where Leach and Root can't. He was quite smart, whether it's because he is a part-time bowler, he was happy to run and bowl the ball wide, in doing so he picked up a couple of wickets. He has a really big future as a bowler."
Sangakkara added: "The focus would be on Leach as the main bowler, but at the end of the day, getting that breakthrough and the line Jacks bowled was excellent. I think the field setting was really good; he got drift, he got good flight and bounce.
"He's a tall bowler...and this is really good for England that one of their batters like Root can bowl a few overs. Leach was really good with the new ball as well and I like the field setting."
