Alastair Cook names the Bazball regular who ISN'T in England's strongest side - while Michael Vaughan reveals what 'frustrates' him about struggling opener Zak Crawley

Alistair Cook believes England should drop Shoaib Bashir after India claimed a dominant 336-run victory over the hosts at Edgbaston.

India tied the series with a superb performance in the second Test to leave Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum scratching their heads over England's best team ahead of the next contest at Lord's.

Former England captain Cook has revealed the player he would bring back into the fold in place of Bashir, despite admitting the 21-year-old spinner is 'improving'.

Speaking of Bashir on The Overlap and Betfair's Stick to Cricket show, Cook said: 'I see his attributes and I see what he brings. If you are picking the strongest England side at the moment, he doesn’t get into it - I would pick Liam Dawson.'

Dawson, Hampshire's left-arm spin-bowling all-rounder, took 4-20 in his first international for three years as he helped England's T20 side to a 21-run victory over West Indies in June.

His superb performance prompted former England captain and Mail Sport columnist Nasser Hussain to argue that Dawson is a 'must pick' for the 2026 T20 World Cup - but Cook believes he should also be selected for the Test side.

'Why can’t you bring a guy back, who is playing really well, he was England’s MVP in all formats last year, more than holds his own in four-day cricket,' he continued.

'Bashir doesn’t add anything with the bat and not much in the field and is averaging 60. He is improving, got a nine-fer against Zimbabwe, I get all that but does he fit in this England team?

'This is when test cricket is at his hardest for players. Bashir, youngest to 50 wickets , everyone says he is improving and suddenly the reality comes, we are looking at the stats from his last game, he is at fours, averaging 60 or whatever it is, so he knows we are talking about it.

'That being said, I just don't think you can play test cricket without someone who is really a frontline spinner, I just don't like it. I think Bashir can stay around the environment.'

Meanwhile, Michael Vaughan raised concerns over Zak Crawley's position in the side, with the England opener struggling for runs again against India in the second Test.

Crawley scored just 19 runs across his two innings at Edgbaston, his second being a disappointing seven-ball duck. 

Vaughan told the podcast: 'I believe this England side needs every ounce of an Alastair Cook-style batter. When you look at a bowling attack, only two matches into five in the series, they looked like they were bowling with parachutes on at Edgbaston, it wasn’t boiling hot and it’ll be hotter in Australia in a few months’ time.

'You look at it and go, the reason we enjoy Bazball is because they are aggressive, but they give the bowlers 89 overs rest, they bowl on every day. Before the week is out, the bowlers are blowing.

'Zak Crawley has had 56 games, scored five hundreds at the top of the order, averages 30 - which is the lowest for any player that has played Test cricket that has scored over 2,500 runs - do we just accept that he will play every game now under Ben and Baz, Rob Key and Luke Wright the selectors?

'What really frustrated me about Zak - at Headingley he was fantastic, his feet were inside the line of off stump and he aligned the ball straight back to [Jasprit] Bumrah. He goes to Edgbaston, no Bumrah, his feet are outside the line of off stump and he is chasing a channel and I am thinking, if Bumrah was playing, how would you have lined the ball up?

'I am sure he did not disrespect Akash Deep and [Mohammed] Siraj but when I see a technical change and you think he is chasing those balls he was chasing against Siraj, in his first spell against Bumrah he was leaving them and saying I’ll make you bowl to me.

'He has to realise in his mindset now that he is not good enough to chase, we have seen too much of that and he gets out too often too soon.'

Vaughan added: 'He has to align himself up to those straight balls because everyone is going to line up to chase him in terms of the straight ball as he has been out LBW and bowled, it is absolute Christmas as a batter because they will channel him and if he can be strong enough, to say I’m leaving it. 

'They are always going to bowl one or two [straight balls] every over because he has been out LBW too many times.

'As an opening batter who has played 56 games, you have to get better, you have to improve. His failures have been chasing outside the channel and if you continue to play that way, you will give those behind you the opportunity to catch you. How many more failures? Is he in forever?

'In football, he is like your striker who scores every 12 games when he pops one in from 40 yards, and you go ‘that's why we pick him’. That is what is happening with Zak Crawley.

'As a batter, if he wants to stay in this England team for the next year or two, or play 100 tests, play the straight drive and wait for the one on his pads, he plays the pull shot fine.

'He has got three shots and if he wants to be consistent, he just has to stick to three shots.'