Red Rose vs White Rose.
Historically, a strong Yorkshire has resulted in a stronger England team. Therefore, it is no surprise that in the same year Yorkshire are going for a third Championship title in as many years, England were on the brink of returning to the top of the Test cricket rankings. Joe Root, Gary Ballance, and Jonny Bairstow from Yorkshire have all helped England come close to achieving that goal, whereas only James Anderson from Lancashire is in the side.
It is a familiar story regarding the rose counties as three further Yorkshiremen have won at least one Test cap in the past four years (Adil Rashid, Adam Lyth, and Tim Bresnan – Liam Plunkett ignored due to spending his early career at Durham). However, only one player other than James Anderson has done so for Lancashire, Simon Kerrigan’s solitary cap coming in the final Ashes test of 2013 (Jos Buttler ignored as he came through the Somerset ranks).
Within the next three years, Lancashire will be aiming to break this trend. Granted, Yorkshire’s crop of talent will continue to flow, with Alex Lees, Jack Leaning, and Matthew Fisher likely to earn international recognition soon enough. However, in Haseeb Hameed and Liam Livingstone, the Lancashire youngsters, it is clear that the Red Rose have two future stars of their own. Both have already earned England recognition of sorts, Hameed for the Under-19s, and Livingstone for the Lions. However, full England debuts will be a shared goal in next three or so years.
Hameed Tailor-Made for Test Cricket.
Hameed is a possible candidate to take Alistair Cook’s place at the top of the order when he finally retires, if he is not already in the team by then.
The 19-year-old made his first-class debut at the back end of the 2015 season, but it is the current season in which he has thrived. Scoring 822 runs in 18 innings with an average of 48.35 including two hundreds, Hameed has made a difficult job look reasonably easy. England selector Mick Newell was full of praise during the opener’s highest score to date of 122, in which he secured a hard fought draw for his side against an attack which included Stuart Broad and Imran Tahir. ‘’He is a throwback, an old fashioned type of cricketer who looks like he was made for Test cricket,’’ Newell said. It is perhaps to Hameed’s disadvantage that the England Lions only play the shorter forms of the game, and if they were to play more red-ball cricket, the opener would be one of the first names on the team sheet.
Livingstone Aiming for All Forms.
Liam Livingstone’s white-ball ability has resulted in Lions cricket this summer. Ben Duckett, Daniel Bell-Drummond, and Sam Billings’ stunning efforts restricted the 23-year-old’s time at the crease, but he still managed a solid 64 off 60 balls against Pakistan A.
The middle-order batsman has been a revelation this season, scoring over 1,000 runs in all competitions, including two Championship hundreds, and Lancashire’s fastest ever t20 fifty, coming off just 22 balls. Smashing records has become a bit of a habit as Livingstone belted a world-record 350 off just 138 deliveries during a National Club Championship match in 2015. Twelve months later he scored 108* off 215 deliveries in what was a maiden hundred in just his second first-class match.
While Hameed is very much suited to the Test arena, Livingstone will be hoping to represent England in all forms of the game.
Bravery rewards Giles.
Ashley Giles has to be given a huge amount of credit for bringing these two Lancastrians into his team. Hameed, especially, was a brave call as Giles made the decision to release long-standing opening batsman Paul Horton from the club.
Also, the hugely popular Ashwell Prince did not return for the 2016 season after a successful few years with the county, and while others pleaded for the South African to be replaced, Giles opted to blood young players. Livingstone himself has praised Giles hugely for the opportunities he has given him. ‘’I owe a lot to Ashley because he’s the one who has given me the freedom to play the way I play,’’ said the 22-year-old. Giles’ brave selections may prove to be a trend for the red rose county as their current crop of young players are picked up by England, something that their white rose rivals know all too well.
