Will Jacks hailed as ‘winner’ by county coach after World Cup breakout

Will Jacks has been described as a “winner” by his head coach at Surrey, Gareth Batty, who is unsurprised at how England’s off-spinning all-rounder has starred at the T20 World Cup.

Batty made the surprising decision four years ago to name Jacks as Surrey’s frontline spinner ahead of more specialist options, in the process adding ballast with the batting down the order.

Likened back then to Moeen Ali by Batty, Jacks was cast into a similarly unfamiliar role with England’s white-ball sides last summer, moved down to number seven from his usual spot in the top three.

He has risen to the challenge at the World Cup with both bat and ball, collecting four player of the match awards – equalling Australia all-rounder Shane Watson’s record from the 2012 tournament.

“I’ve seen it for years, it’s not a surprise in any way,” Batty told the Press Association. “He’s a winner, he’s very competitive and I think he’s an all-format player.

“He’s getting more of the the limelight now in the shorter format, but if he can keep growing and learning from his experiences… I said it in 2022, I think he is this era’s equivalent of Moeen Ali.

“Hopefully he can go on beyond what Moeen achieved – and I don’t mean that disrespectfully to Moeen and I certainly don’t mean it disrespectfully that Jacksy is not quite Moeen. He’s an evolving spinner.

“Time is the difference between both careers. But I said before he played international cricket that he is of that sort of quality. A bit of luck and opportunity and who knows where it ends?”

It has been a breakthrough winter for Jacks, who was originally selected to be Shoaib Bashir’s back-up at the Ashes only to be thrust into playing four Tests, bowling part-time spin and batting at eight.

While he showed only glimpses of his ability in Australia, Jacks has had important contributions in just about every England win in India and Sri Lanka to help them into this week’s semi-finals.

“I suppose the super impressive part of it is his trade is opening the batting,” Batty said, ahead of England’s showdown with India in Mumbai on Thursday.

“For him to adapt to the role of finisher is not a surprise because of his skillset and the way he strikes a ball but it’s impressive to put that marker down and really make that role his own.

“His stock ball is also very good. If he just runs up and bowls and doesn’t try anything technical, no pressure, he’s as good as most spinners around the world.

“All these experiences are just going to make him better. That’s the problem with spin bowling: you need the experiences to get better sometimes.

“But he’s been quite magnificent at having his process nailed down in the last few years and not getting dragged into overthinking things. He’s keeping things simple.”

Jacks – who has bleached his hair for the tournament, earning the nickname ‘Slim Shady’ among his team-mates in a nod to American rapper Eminem – was out of the England reckoning in all formats 12 months ago.

But Batty, a former England spinner himself, gleefully accepts they will not be seeing much of Jacks at the Kia Oval in the next few years if the 27-year-old continues on his upward trajectory.

“It’s great, the kid is flying and we don’t want to see him back here for a long time,” Batty added. “We want to see him keep doing what he’s doing.”