Will Jacks had bowled five days’ worth of cricket since surgeons removed his appendix. On Tuesday at Chester-le-Street he produced the second-best one-day international figures any England spinner has managed.
Jacks took 5-22 from his off-spin as Sri Lanka were bowled out for 176 in pursuit of England’s 265, an 89-run win that gave the hosts a 1-0 lead in the three-match series. He had already made 46 not out to lift England from a stalled middle order. The Player of the Match award was a formality; the route he took to it was anything but.
A birthday weekend that ended in surgery
Jacks was in Edinburgh to celebrate his mother’s 60th birthday when what he assumed was a stomach bug turned into something considerably worse. He was taken to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, diagnosed with appendicitis and operated on as an emergency.
“It was just really bad really quickly so we had to go,” Jacks said. “It was, obviously, completely random and quite scary. Luckily they were able to do a slight incision and not have to rip me open.”
That distinction mattered. Keyhole surgery rather than a full open procedure cut his layoff to a projected four weeks, and Jacks beat even that, returning a few days early to captain England Lions against the Sri Lankans on 11 September. He then played all three matches of England’s 3-0 T20 series sweep before the ODIs began.
The batting came back quickly. The bowling did not.
“It was more of a confidence thing,” he said. “I only bowled five days before the first game.”
The spell that put him behind only Vic Marks
Sri Lanka were 96-2 and steady when Jacks began to bite. Kusal Mendis made 42, Janith Wellalage top-scored with 45, and for a period the chase looked navigable on a surface offering more to the spinners than England’s seamers. Jacks then took three wickets in four balls to finish the innings off, turning a competitive total into a comfortable one.
His 5-22 sits behind only Vic Marks’ 5-20 against New Zealand at Wellington in 1984 among England spinners in ODI cricket. It is also the first five-wicket haul by an England spinner against Sri Lanka since Marks managed it in 1983 — a 43-year gap, and a statistic that says as much about England’s historic reluctance to trust spin in 50-over cricket as it does about Jacks.
The ball behaved for him, too. Jacks extracted an average of 4.3 degrees of turn, his highest figure in a home ODI.
Captain Harry Brook was emphatic that this was a progression rather than an outlier.
“He’s been a very vital player. He’s not a part-timer; he is a very good off-spinner,” Brook said. “He can spin the ball big and contain batters when we need to. He’s really growing into this role.”
What it means for England
England’s 265 was not a commanding total. Sachindu Colombage, on debut, took 3-44 and Asitha Fernando 3-53, and without Brook’s 67 and Jacks’ unbeaten 46 the target would have been well short of defensible. That England won by 89 runs is a measure of how completely Jacks flipped the second innings.
His standing in this side has changed fast. Jacks is vice-captain to Brook for this series, was named player of the tournament at the T20 World Cup, and has spent the past 18 months remodelling himself from an opener into a finisher. He describes his current brief in deliberately loose terms.
“I feel very comfortable going out there on the day and any situation can arise,” he said.
That flexibility is the point. England’s 50-over rebuild has been short of two things: a spinner who takes wickets rather than simply bowls overs, and a batter who can float anywhere from three to seven. Jacks is currently offering both in the same body, which is a rare and awkward luxury to accommodate — and a considerably easier selection problem than the alternative.
Three caveats are worth keeping:
- One spell on a helpful surface does not settle a bowling career; Jacks himself framed his confidence as unresolved
- Sri Lanka’s collapse from 96-2 was partly self-inflicted, with the lower order offering little resistance
- His workload is being managed carefully so soon after abdominal surgery
England’s medical staff will watch the recovery closely across a condensed schedule. The second ODI is at Headingley on Thursday, where Sri Lanka must find a way of removing Jacks early and, harder still, of playing him when he has the ball. On Tuesday’s evidence, neither is straightforward.
Sports journalist and editor at SportsPortal.net. Covers cricket, football, Formula 1, tennis, and basketball with a focus on how global sports connect with Pakistani audiences. Follows the PSL, Pakistan national cricket team, Premier League, and major international tournaments. Has reported on sports for digital audiences since 2021.
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