It’s probably fair to say that most county batsmen view the pre-season MCCU games as a chance to fill their boots prior to the start of the County Championship programme. But it’s equally reasonable to suggest that no batsman was more relieved to do so this season than Lancashire’s Haseeb Hameed.
Hameed’s 218 against Loughborough MCCU last Friday and
Saturday was his highest score for Lancashire’s first team. He faced 336 balls
and batted for 387 minutes, hitting 32 fours and two sixes in an innings which
was ideal preparation for Lancashire’s Division Two opener against Middlesex at
Lord’s.
It little mattered the match was not first-class. Hameed had
shown the Lancashire coaches he still has the ability and temperament to bat
long after a winter spent in India and New Zealand working on his game and
getting match practice.
And the innings may have been as well-timed as some of its
boundaries. Asked for his judgment on Hameed by Wisden, Paul Allott, director
of cricket at Emirates Old Trafford, declared recently that: “Not only is he a
million miles away from England, he’s hanging on by his fingertips at
Lancashire.” Ouch.
Allott’s judgment might be seen as unnecessarily brutal,
especially when applied to a 22-year-old cricketer viewed only two years ago as
one of England’s brightest cricketing prospects. But it followed a season in
which Hameed had scored 165 Championship runs at an average of 9.7.
The only consolation for Lancashire supporters was that few
players are more dedicated than the Boltonian and his winter abroad was part of
his search for the form which helped him score over 1,000 runs in 2016.
“The main purpose of those trips was to be outside hitting
as many balls as possible, and to experience different cultures and
conditions,” said Hameed, before his innings at Loughborough. “I’m still young,
so any experience I can get overseas is brilliant. I’d been to India a couple
of times before and knew what to expect, but New Zealand was a new place for
me.”
Hameed also admitted that it was useful to get away from Old
Trafford for a while but was reassured by the advice from trusted coaches and
new mentors that his game was not in need of a complete overhaul.
“As a young player, you look for answers,” he said. “But the
common theme I got was to just to back my game. Everyone felt it was in a good
place, which was nice to hear. And that came from people who I’d not met
before. For them to say that was refreshing.
“Having said that, there are always minute changes you can make to help your game. But that’s not always technical. It can be tactical, like game awareness, being happy to move across the crease or changing the angles.”
Whatever their own loyalties, there will probably be few
cricket lovers who do not have some sympathy for Hameed. His three Test
appearances in India garnered immense praise, some of it from tough judges with
plenty of Test appearances on their CV.
“People can be very up and down,” he said. “They’ll praise
you lavishly when you’re doing well and they’ll criticise you when you’re not.
I try to take that in my stride and keep a balance to it. It’s nice to hear
people say things like that, but I don’t let it affect me too much.
“I scored runs when I was nine and 10 in Bolton cricket, and
that brought praise with it locally. Even when I experienced that from a young
age, I never tried to let that get to me.”
But along with a measure of resilience, Hameed also
possesses a degree of discernment. So when two former England skippers offer
useful observations or advice he is ready to pick up on their suggestions.
“One of Mike Atherton’s quotes I like is, ‘you’re never as
good as people say, and you’re never as a bad as people say when you’re not
doing well’,” he said.
“And when you’re so eager to improve, you can sometimes
start working on your weaknesses too much. Alastair Cook, in ‘masterclass’ with
us for England U19s, said one of his things was to make his strength a super
strength and to make his weakness a strength.
“That makes sense because if you don’t practise your strengths day-by-day, they can falter. I guess it’s about making sure you’re working on both strengths and weaknesses and balancing that. You need a lucky break at times, and you could say I didn’t have that last year. Let’s hope this year I can maybe get that bit of good fortune on my side.”
PAUL EDWARDS / Photo: Getty Images
