Matt Parkinson: 'I don't just want to be in England squads on potential'

by n8rngtd.top Uncategorized

Legspinner starts season in fine form to raise hopes of making the Test grade

Matt Roller12-May-2021In the HBO drama, , the hapless Cousin Greg is warned when bragging about his inheritance that it will make him “the poorest rich person in America – the world’s tallest dwarf”. In cricketing terms, ‘England’s best red-ball legspinner’ is a similarly couched epithet – the context offers no guarantee of success or fulfilment.But it is better to have the label than not, and given Adil Rashid has not played a first-class match since January 2019 while continuing to manage his shoulder injury, Matt Parkinson’s early-season form confirms he is the incumbent. After wearing hi-vis and carrying drinks throughout England’s three-month subcontinent tour, Parkinson has taken 19 wickets in his first four County Championship games of the season – only eight bowlers, seven of them seamers, have managed more.The opportunity to bowl has been key, both as a containing bowler and an attack one. Parkinson’s four previous first-class seasons (he missed last year’s Bob Willis Trophy through injury) have followed a similar pattern: running drinks in April and May as Lancashire play it safe, before getting a brief chance at the end of the summer. Two wickets against Northamptonshire next week would make this the most prolific season of his career to date, even with up to eight fixtures left to play.ESPNcricinfo LtdIt already feels like a long time since he was left out of the side for Lancashire’s first game of the season, with Tom Hartley, the young left-arm spinner, preferred. “You do get little doubts when you don’t play the first one,” Parkinson admits as the rain comes down on the washed-out third day of their draw with Glamorgan. “It was probably a bit tight [after getting back from India] but I was gutted not to play. You start thinking, ‘oh no’.”I thought it could be like a normal season for a legspinner – the sort I’ve had before – where you don’t play until June or July. I’ve made the point that I want to play a large part in red-ball cricket and I see that as my only way of getting a justified call-up for further honours. I don’t want to be in England squads off the back of potential. I want to do what Leachy [Jack Leach] does: play 14 games, and take loads of wickets.”Two wickets in particular have stood out. The first was a near-replica of Shane Warne’s ball to Mike Gatting in 1993 – pitching some way outside leg, and hitting the top of Adam Rossington’s off stump; the second was a similar ball but to the left-handed Delray Rawlins, who offered no shot and was cleaned up by a sharply-spun legbreak. However, with English cricket taking part in a social media boycott in solidarity against online abuse, the Rawlins wicket gained significantly less traction than Rossington’s.