For it was one Old Boltonian, Matt Parkinson, who displayed unwavering accuracy as he took five wickets on debut to give his side an advantage; and it was another, Haseeb Hameed, who exhibited no fear as he sought to preserve that advantage with an unbeaten 81 against a strong Warwickshire fightback led by the Manchester-born seamer Keith Barker.
By the close, Lancashire had extended their 45-run lead on first innings to 215 but they achieved that slight advantage only at the cost of five prime wickets. This quite marvellous game remains finely balanced going into the final day and perhaps it is only right that two 19-year-old cricketers have played important roles in the four-act drama.
For although thousands of children did not reappear at Old Trafford on Wednesday, a childlike simplicity lingered on. It was best expressed at 12.35 when Parkinson turned the ball through a gap between Olly Hannon-Dalby's bat and pad which was not so much a gate as a portico. That wicket completed the leg spinner's first five-wicket return at a cost of 49 runs from 23.1 beautifully disciplined and skilful overs.
The recent history of English cricket is strewn with the reputations of promising young leggies. Some are now specialist batsmen; others are selling VHS recorders. Leg spin can be a thankless calling. So let us murmur a quiet prayer as we say that Parkinson is one to watch. His accuracy, his economy and, more than anything else, his ability to turn the ball suggest he has a fine future.
On Tuesday he removed Jonathan Trott and Varun Chopra. On Wednesday he had Barker, who made 64, caught by Neil Wagner at short fine leg when sweeping and he then mopped up the tail. Each wicket saw him embraced by his team mates and the members rose to him as he walked off into the distant dressing rooms at Old Trafford, still clutching the ball with which he had become only the second leg-spinner to take five wickets on Championship debut since the war. In less than a day Lancashire supporters have gone from: 'Who's this lad, Parkinson' to 'Parky'. If he takes more wickets in the second innings, there may be folk songs.
But this game has been the finest entertainment because both Lancashire and Warwickshire have played excellent cricket, albeit spiced with occasional fallibility. Tim Ambrose's undefeated 70 in the visitors' first innings was a tribute to understated, professional efficiency and when Lancashire had progressed smoothly if slowly to 87 for the loss of Tom Smith, Ian Bell's bowlers proved for the third time in this match that this is a wicket on which one wicket often brings four.
In the third over after tea Luke Procter's defensive push merely edged a catch to Chopra at slip. Four overs later, Alviro Petersen came down the wicket to the same bowler but only chipped a catch to Rikki Clarke at a slightly short cover. Croft, perhaps knackered by leadership, his first-innings century and over a hundred overs' wicketkeeping, played a tired defensive shot to his first ball and nicked off to Ambrose. And when Patel had Karl Brown caught at the wicket for one just three balls later, Lancashire had lost three wickets in five balls and four batsmen had been swept aside for 17 runs in five overs.
Hameed watched all this from the other end with no doubt increasing concern yet his technique remained quite unaltered. At its most serene the Lancashire opener's batting is as calming as a Chopin nocturne, as reassuring as the late-night shipping forecast. There were boundaries in his innings, five of them, in fact, and not all of them behind the wicket. Pulled fours off Barker and Rankin provided evidence of attacking capability yet Hameed's first instinct is, as yet, to make his wicket hard to take. 'Something there is that doesn't love a wall' wrote Robert Frost. But then he never saw the great Rahul Dravid.
And in the last 90 minutes of play Hameed was joined by Livingstone, whose lovely ability to hit the ball very hard made him a perfect foil for his partner. This pair added 66 in an unbroken stand that left Lancashire slightly ahead in this game, if only because they have the runs on the board. Livingstone's 39 not out has already included cover-driven boundaries off Patel and a wondrous pick-up for six off Clarke which sailed deep into the crowd at long on.
Hameed, for his part has batted 268 minutes, faced 223 balls and is 19 runs short of what will be the first of many hundreds. When he returned to the dressing room, he no doubt received the congratulations of Parkinson, the happy courtesy of earlier in the day equally happily returned.
And perhaps it is not surprising that Parkinson and Hameed should join forces. This area has never been short of effective double acts: Jack Simmons and David Hughes, David Lloyd and Barry Wood, Minnie Caldwell and Martha Longhurst. And now they have Has 'n' Parky, appearing soon at a cricket ground near you.
Some would counsel caution, of course. They would say that to be a young cricketer is to receive a crash course in life's turbulence. They might echo the final words of another Boltonian, the grumpy and troubled Ezra Fitton in Roy Boulting's 1966 film The Family Way "That's life, son. At your age it'll make you laugh but one day it'll break your bloody heart."
But no. It would be better for both Hameed and Parkinson to pay no attention whatever to the words of that rather miserable old bugger. For the moment, they live in the green world of debuts, new grounds and first experiences. But maybe we all do, if we would only open our eyes…and look.
No comments:
Post a Comment