Cameron Ponsonby examines a difficult first outing for Matt Parkinson, England’s much-heralded leggie.
He’s not the messiah, he’s a very naughty leg spinner.
Matt Parkinson has been the chosen one of English cricket for a while now. Snippets of his miracle-balls have blessed social media timelines for years, with those calling for his selection being part of a pilgrimage to the promised land as much as a bandwagon. In the name of the father, the Parkinson and the holy leg-break. Amen.
And finally, having taken the road from Manchester to replace Jack Leach as a concussion substitute, he’s here. Bowling in an England shirt, in a Test match, at Lord’s. Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning, give me oil in my lamp, I pray.
Parkinson’s problem, however, was that his debut outing revealed himself not to be a miracle worker, but a human. A fact revealed in front of an audience who knew him only through his cricketing Hinge profile and not his day-to-day. And now that they’ve met him in person, they’ve thought to themselves, “…he looked like he bowled quicker in his photos.”
Parkinson’s speed was always going to be a talking point. His average pace, even for a leg spinner, is slow at just 46mph. But that “downside” comes with the considerable upside of giving the ball time to drift and spin. According to CricViz’s database, no spinner bowls slower, drifts the ball more, or spins it further.
Those who know Parkinson knew all of this already. But much like your tall friend who spends their life confirming to new groups of people that, “yes, I am tall”, Parkinson is faced with these comments every time he takes a step up in his career.
Today at tea, Kevin Pietersen explained how he believed Parkinson’s current pace is too slow to succeed at this level. He caveated that heavily by saying that it didn’t mean Parkinson couldn’t succeed, just that he wouldn’t do so with his current method.
Now, there are many things that are not worth listening to Kevin Pietersen about in this world. But there are also a few where it really is. And batting is one of them.
Players at this level, Pietersen explained, would either sit on the backfoot and pick Parkinson off, or run at him. And he was correct.
According to CricViz, New Zealand ran down the wicket to Parkinson to 28 per cent of his deliveries during his first spell. Since 2020, the global average for coming down the track to spin is 5.6 per cent.
They came with a plan and executed it, with the result being that Parkinson rarely looked threatening as Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell turned full-length deliveries into full tosses and picked the leg spinner off the back foot for singles. Parkinson may have only conceded three runs an over on day two, but he did so without bowling a single maiden as the two Kiwi batters found singles easy to come by.
As a point of player development, it will be genuinely interesting whether Parkinson sticks to the methods that have got him this far, or is forced to adapt and bowl slightly quicker as he looks to build a Test career.
In the list of excuses in Parkinson’s favour, the track didn’t take to spin and he bowled the majority of his overs up the hill which was arguably the wrong end. He also bowled during a period where no England bowler threatened as bat dominated ball for the first time in the Test But nevertheless, the lack of instant impact sent shivers of Scott Borthwick and Mason Crane down the spines of English fans who have fallen for the blue-eyed leggie once too many times before.
But Dad, I promise that this one is different.
Yes, he is slow, but it’s something he can work on if need be, he can change. And consider how skilled a bowler you must be to have a first-class average of just 23.84 bowling at 40 odd mph. Those you are competing against are capable of facing bowling literally twice the speed, and yet you are putting enough action on the ball to induce mistakes. English cricket has long cried out for something different, and whilst Matt Parkinson may not be the second coming, he still deserves a second date.
