A near-unknown 19-year-old has dramatically received a huge hint that he will be Alastair Cook’s Test opening partner this winter.
The claims of Haseeb Hameed, the Lancashire batsman with more than 1,000 first-class runs this summer, were summed up succinctly by head coach Trevor Bayliss.
IMAGE: Getty Images Europe
IMAGE: Getty Images Europe
IMAGE: PA:Press Association
Bayliss insisted: “If he is good enough, he is old enough. No, I wouldn’t have any problems playing a lad of 19 in the team Test.”
The Bolton lad has emerged as a strong contender to feature in the seven back-to-back Tests in Bangladesh and India leading up to Christmas.
He has scored four county championship centuries this season – including two in the Roses match against Yorkshire – and impressed with his skill and maturity.
The way he leaves the ball and accumulates runs patiently bring comparisons with that master blocker from the past, Geoff Boycott.
However, his Lancashire team-mate Jos Buttler sees similarities with a modern master.
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Q: Crikey, he’s only 19. Isn’t that a bit young?
Hameed impresses everybody with his maturity and calmness. He loves batting and loves leaving the ball – which exasperates bowlers. Only five teenagers have ever played Test cricket for England and none since the late Ben Hollioake in 1997.
Q: What are his chances of opening with Alastair Cook this winter?
Decent. England want a long-term partner for Cook because he’s opened with nine different batsmen in four years. Alex Hales was groomed but has not made a century in 11 Tests. Head coach Trevor Bayliss says he would have no worries about thrusting Hameed into the cauldron of a Test match in India. Three weeks ago, Sunsport mentioned him as a tour contender and now it could become reality.
Q: How do we know he won’t freeze?
Nobody can be sure, of course, because he will never have experienced anything like a Test match in India. He’s never even played for the England second team – the Lions – and he was overlooked for the under-19 World Cup earlier this year. But he is confident and relaxed and says: “I’ve believed from a young age that I’ll play international cricket for England and I think I am ready.”
Q: So what’s his background?
He was born in Bolton into a keen cricketing family. He scored his first century for Lancashire under-11s and has progressed through the age groups ever since. Hameed’s first-class debut came last summer and his most eye-catching performance was twin centuries in the Roses match in August. Although a normally watchful batsman, he whacked England leg-spinner Adil Rashid.
Q: Is a new Geoff Boycott in the making?
Well, he’s never played a limited-overs match for Lancashire. The county know that four-day cricket – and maybe soon five-day cricket – is his strength. Hameed has faced nearly 500 overs on his own in the first division of the championship this summer and that’s 100 overs more than anybody else, as well as having an impressive average of 51.33. They are numbers to make Boycott purr.
Buttler said: “In many ways, he reminds me of Joe Root because of his calm temperament and ability. And, in a couple of years’ time when he develops more power, those ones and twos will become fours.”
Hameed is so young that he is yet to play for England Lions, the customary stepping stone between county cricket and the full senior team.
Selection chief James Whitaker and England supremo Andrew Strauss made a special visit to Old Trafford last week to watch him bat and he scored a half-century against Somerset.
And his selection could mean bad news for white ball superstar Alex Hales, who has opened with Cook in England’s last 11 Tests but has yet to make a century.
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Hales could still get the nod if England decide to take three openers. After all, nobody knows if Hameed will freeze on the big occasion.
When asked if he was looking for a new partner for Cook, Bayliss added: “Possibly. There have been some young players making runs and they are coming into calculations, which is very exciting. That’s obviously one of the talking points around the selection table.”
The timing of the Test squad announcement keeps changing because the selectors want to give players as many chances as possible to display their credentials in the closing weeks of the season. It is now likely to be unveiled next week.
Bayliss says it will be very difficult for any player to opt out of Bangladesh and go straight to India because there are no warm-up matches in India.
Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson was clobbered for 2-70 in eight overs on his one-day international debut on Sunday as England lost a white ball match for the first time this summer.
But he still showed enough to make the management think he could play Test cricket.
IMAGE: Getty Images Europe
IMAGE: Getty Images Europe
Bayliss explained: “Dawson is a guy with something about him. He bats, bowls and he’s a pretty good fielder. But it’s his game sense that impresses – he almost knows what’s going to happen before it happens, he’s one of those type of players.
“I think most of the players will go to Bangladesh. It would be hard to pick one squad for Bangladesh and another for India. It could come down to who wants to go and who doesn’t, I suppose, but ultimately it would be best to have one squad.
“It might be a bridge we have to cross if any players don’t go to Bangladesh, but I’ve sort of got my fingers crossed that it doesn’t occur. It might be a difficult decision if that happens. I have no qualms whatsoever about going.”
Bayliss is also convinced his assistant Paul Farbrace will turn down any advances from Yorkshire to replace Jason Gillespie as coach. Farbrace signed a new, improved contract at the start of the summer.
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