"He seems to have lost the rhythm of batting": Hussain urges Bethell to play County Cricket ahead of Ashes series

London [UK], August 14 (ANI): Ahead of the away Ashes series against Australia from November 21 onwards, ex-England skipper Nasser Hussain said that young all-rounder Jacob Bethell should play in the County Championship for Warwickshire ahead of the marquee series as he seems to have "lost the rhythm of batting".
Bethell, who was handed his all-format debut for England just last year, gave signs of a promising future with some crucial half-centuries and cameos. During the tour to New Zealand last year, he batted as number three, registering three impressive fifties. However, the 21-year-old seems to have lost his steam, registering single-digit scores for Birmingham Phoenix in the ongoing The Hundred tournament. In the final Test against India at The Oval, he could score only six and five across both innings. In his last 10 outings across all formats, he has made 145 runs at an average of 13.18 across 12 innings, with a best score of 36.
The 21-year-old spent the summer as a back-up batter for English Test side and he was with the squad for the home series against India, rather being released to play county cricket.
Hussain, along with Michael Atherton, questioned on Sky Sports Podcast if Bethell should play county cricket at end of English summer as a part of Ashes preparation or play white-ball matches for England ahead of T20 World Cup next year in India-Sri Lanka.
Atherton said: "If you look forward, if he is going to be the spare batter in the Ashes, what do England do now?"
"You could make an argument that perhaps playing some 50-over cricket in this period might be better, but obviously you would want to play The Hundred because you are getting paid and there is big crowds and that is where it is."
"But then after that, should he play championship or should he play white-ball cricket? Because we've got some white ball internationals at the end of the season," he concluded.
Hussain added that if he were Bethell, he would be looking to play county cricket just to get his rhythm back.
"And I know there's a T20 World Cup coming up, and the white ball stuff is hugely important. But he seems to have lost the rhythm of batting."
"He has not got a professional hundred yet. Go and get a professional hundred. I think Warwickshire play Surrey as well. That will be a real good opportunity against a good bowling attack."
"So that's my personal thinking. Rob Key (team's managing director), selectors, they often get criticised for not focusing in on white ball stuff. They may say, 'right, we've got a World Cup, you need to play more white ball stuff.' It will be interesting to see," he concluded.
Bethell is yet to hit a professional ton, with the best score of 96 in red-ball cricket, 82 in List-A cricket and 87 in T20 cricket. For England in all formats, he has scored 869 runs in 29 matches and 30 innings at an average of 37.78 with eight fifties and a best score of 96.
In first-class cricket, Bethell has scored 1,041 runs in 25 matches and 40 innings at an average of 27.39, with eight fifties. (ANI)