“What’s in a name?” Shakespeare memorably asked in Romeo and Juliet. But more to the point, in modern multicultural, multi-religious Britain, what’s the significance of a nickname?

After England’s 241-run victory over the West Indies in the second Test at Trent Bridge in Nottingham on Sunday, Shoaib Bashir has been referred to — affectionately — by his captain Ben Stokes — as “Bash”.

Bashir, the England off-break bowler, who was born in the UK into a Pakistani family and is a practising Muslim who attends Friday prayers, took two wickets for 108 runs in the first innings and a match-winning 5/41 in the second.

When England toured India last year, Bashir could not make his debut in the first Test because his visa did not come through on time.

He was talent spotted by Stokes, who paid tribute to Bashir, who is only 20. At 6ft 4in, he has the advantage of height when delivering the ball. In five Tests for England, he has already taken 24 wickets (and he was not required to bowl when England beat the West Indies in the first Test at Lord’s). Although these are early days, there are hopes that England have found a bowler who will mature with the years.

“Bash showed what he could do in India with conditions in his favour, but the pitch this week didn’t really offer much for spin and he has taken seven wickets in the match,” said Stokes. “I don’t want to sound like it’s an ‘I told you so’ kind of thing, but it sort of is.”

Stokes continued: “He has got so much talent and he’s got an unbelievable desire to get better. It’s really good for a young guy to put in a performance that wins England a Test. He was pretty emotional at the end.”

Stokes was making it clear that after the racism encountered by another Pakistani-origin player, Azeem Rafiq, at Yorkshire, in his side, players would be judged by their performance and
not their religion or the colour of their skin.

The BBC report on the match was headlined, “Bashir the brilliant.”

After each wicket, he was embraced by his team members — which will send a signal to anti-immigration politicians such as Nigel Farage.

Rory Dollard’s match report in The Independent included more on what Stokes had said about Bashir: “I think what Bash has done today is to show the world what he can do.”

A subtler message was: “Muslims are welcome in the England side.”

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said in the Daily Telegraph that “Shoaib Bashir was fantastic on the fourth day”.

In The Times, Mike Atherton wrote: “It was Bashir who caused most havoc with his height and accurate off spin from the Radcliffe Road End. Not since Muttiah Muralitharan bamboozled England to defeat in 2006 has a spinner taken a five-for in Test cricket here and, with seven wickets for the match, Bashir could be delighted with his efforts across both innings. The selectors can give themselves a pat on the back.”

The way the British use nicknames is very revealing. The Indian batting star Cheteshwar Pujara was nicknamed “Steve” when he played for Yorkshire in 2015 and in 2018, but this was almost intended as a racist jibe.

The English have always made a pretence of not being able to pronounce Asian names. At Cambridge University, for example, Prince Ranji, who got a “Blue” playing Oxford in his final year in 1894, was called “Mr Smith” by fellow English students.

In recent years, the England all-rounder Moeen Ali, who made it clear that as a devout Muslim he wouldn’t drink with the “lads”, has been nicknamed “Mo”. But this was respectful.

When the former England captain Nasser Hussain scored a Test century, papers would embrace him as “Naz”. But he was called “Hussain” if he was out cheaply.

Thus, “Bash” should prepare to be called Bashir if he gives away too many runs.