• Young spinner set to become third new cap of England’s tour • ‘We think he’s a guy that has got the goods,’ says Bayliss

Trevor Bayliss believes the time is right to launch Mason Crane’s Test career as England head into Thursday’s Ashes finale at a ground both the head coach and the young leg-spinner have previously called home.

Crane turned out for New South Wales, from whom England hired Bayliss in 2015, towards the end of last year’s Sheffield Shield after an award-winning season in local grade cricket. With Moeen Ali bereft of form, the 20-year-old looks set to become the third new cap of the tour.

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“There’s maybe no time like the present to find out,” Bayliss said, when asked if Crane is ready to make the step up. “We think he’s a guy that has got the goods and the more he plays at this level, the better he will get. You have got to start somewhere.”

The Sydney Cricket Ground is traditionally a two-spinner venue but has become less predictable. Australia added the slow-left-arm spin of Ashton Agar to their squad but were only covering all the bases given the SCG is yet to host a first‑class fixture this season and a recent Big Bash pitch had a reasonable covering of grass.

Like the surface, how Crane’s inclusion affects the make-up of England’s XI for the dead-rubber remains uncertain. A straight swap for Moeen would move Chris Woakes up to No7 and see the tail lengthened, thus creating something of a headache. More local knowledge will be at hand, at least, with the former Australia international Stuart MacGill joining England’s setup this week.

Profile Meet Mason Show Hide Born Feb 18 1997, Shoreham-on-Sea County Hampshire Position Leg-spinner; right-hand bat First class debut v Durham 19 July 2015. Took five wickets in match, including all four in second innings Test caps 0 ODI apps 0 T20 apps 2 Career highs so far Taking Kumar Sangakkara’s wicket on first XI debut for Hants; dismissing AB de Villiers for England in summer T20 Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images AsiaPac

It was MacGill, a leg-spinner with 208 Test wickets, who mentored Crane during his time at the Sydney club Gordon last winter, when he went on to win the Bill O’Reilly medal for the first grade’s player of the season with 45 victims from 11 games, including back-to-back seven-wicket hauls.

Crane’s success prompted a callup from New South Wales – the state side’s first use of an overseas player since Imran Khan in 1984-85 – in which he picked up the wickets of five South Australia batsmen at the SCG.

Given a first-class career that has seen Crane’s wickets come at 43 runs apiece and Hampshire overlook him at the start of last season due to conditions, Bayliss is clearly hoping such local experiences and the influence of MacGill come to the fore, as well as the youngster’s fiercely competitive character.

Having already handed new caps to Craig Overton and Tom Curran this series – the latter could make way in Sydney if conditions earn Moeen an unlikely reprieve – Bayliss is also keen for more youth to be injected generally, with the squad for the tour of New Zealand in March being selected over the coming weeks.

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The Lions batsmen Joe Clarke, Liam Livingstone and Dan Lawrence all impressed the Australian during England’s two-day tour match in Perth last month, meaning the pressure could be on James Vince to deliver in the final Test of a series that, with top scores of 83 and 55, has only flirted with a breakthrough innings of substance.

The Australian head coach is not necessarily advocating a policy of out with the old, however, with the expectation being that the senior trio of Alastair Cook, Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad will still be around for the 2019 Ashes series. “I think if the desire is still there then why not? But we also need guys coming in and putting pressure on them as well,” said Bayliss.

Moeen, for all the problems this series that have seen an average 19 with the bat and 135 with the ball, will also remain in the plans for New Zealand and beyond.

Bayliss added: “Like any player, you go through highs and lows. At the moment the number of runs and wickets makes it one of his lows. But Mo is a free spirit and one or two shots or wickets and he will be off and running again.”