BEST WILL IN THE WORLD

WILL JACKS has been described as a “winner” by his head coach at Surrey, Gareth Batty, who says it is no surprise how England’s all-rounder has starred at the T20 World Cup.

- BY DAVID CHARLESWORTH

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 No.7 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 said. “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.