Prince EWS
Global Moderator
It was somwhere in between for mine.
The pitch had a bit in it for the spinners but ultimately I don't think you can chalk it up to helpful conditions at all. Purchase was consistent and he didn't just employ a "natural variation" type game-plan -- all the wickets he got with balls that didn't turn were straight up armballs delivered that way on purpose.
They did play him pretty horribly though. He excuted his style of loopy off breaks and quicker outswinging armballs very well with varying pace and length, but that's precisely what Nabi bowls/bowled and IMO to a slightly better standard so I was surprised when Afghanistan's batsmen seemed to be so dumfounded by it.
From what I've seen he's a slightly better bowler than his domestic record indicates, but to most people reading that and checking cricinfo they'll take that as a far bigger compliment than it is (check Nikita Miller's record during his career). I haven't really seen a lot of his batting yet but I actually have a fair bit more hope for it than you might think from a 24 FC average. I think (ordering being form dependant), Holder, Dowrich and Cornwall make a strong 6-8 with Chase as the 6th bowler.