#BoltonBabyBoycott Goes Bazball?

 

'Baby Boycott' embraces Bazball in bid to win back England opener role

Haseeb Hameed working in the nets

Will Macpherson

An opener once given the nickname “Baby Boycott” is perhaps not the first player to spring to mind as a candidate for England’s Bazball revolution, but Haseeb Hameed is wholeheartedly embracing Ben Stokes’s aggressive philosophy.

Hameed has been chosen to captain England Lions for two first-class matches against Sri Lanka A, for which the squad leaves on Friday, recognising his future value to the national set-up.

Hameed turns 26 on Tuesday and therefore should still be some way from his peak as a batsman. Yet, already, he has experienced one of the stranger careers marked by early stardom, unfortunately-timed injury, and dramatic changes in form. So far, he has had two distinct internationals comings; as a teenage blocker in India in 2016, then again in 2022 where a couple of promising Tests at home were followed by a harrowing Ashes series, where he averaged 10 and recorded six successive single-figure scores.

Hameed returned from Australia a year ago and resolved to expand his game. Happily, a few months later, Ben Stokes expanded England’s too. Hameed scored 1,235 runs for Nottinghamshire at an average of 59 and strike-rate of 62, meaning he remained in England’s plans. In Abu Dhabi in November, he made 145 from 173 balls for the Lions against an England attack including James Anderson and Ollie Robinson.

Stokes loved what he saw. “It’s amazing to see a player like Hass, who has done what he’s done over five or six years, has realised the potential that he can play that way, against our frontline attack,” he said. Now, Hameed is captaining the Lions.

“For him to come out and say that meant a lot to me and it’s nice,” says Hameed. because I guess the changes he’s implemented with the England team coincides with the changes I’ve made on a personal level in terms of my game.

“I came back from that Australia tour and I was clear in how I was going to ago about my game and start to look to score runs at every opportunity and accepting the fact that everyone gets out. Especially against some of the best bowlers in the world, you’re going to face good balls that will get you out so the other balls you may as well try to cash in and with your style, score runs and put the opposition under pressure which is what I’ve tried to do.

“You have your typical Test opener, which is what I was trying to play like. And there’s also a side of me – which maybe a few more people have seen now – which takes me back to my junior days. Showing a side of me that maybe a lot of people haven’t seen at that level. A side that enjoys hitting the ball, that enjoys hitting these shots and I guess letting the uniqueness in the way that I play come out. You forget how much you enjoy the game."

Hameed believes he – and his England team-mates – were too timid in Australia.

'We went into our shells in Australia

One of the big mistakes I made last year, individually but I feel as a group,” he says, “We went into our shells a bit. We got a bit defensive, a bit survival mode and as a result we all suffered. That's me speaking from a personal level as well.

“Now it's almost like, if in doubt you take the other option, try and put the pressure back on them. You take the positive option and you'll be backed for it. That's a key change in our cricket system in general, I've seen a few people mention that and it will be interesting to see how county cricket is played this year. It's the first full summer where it's clear how the Test team want to play their cricket. That's been absolutely filtered down to us as an England Lions group and that will be filtered down again to the county game.”

Hameed is desperate to play for England again, and believes he has the tools to do so, with seven of his 10 Tests coming in the toughest environments, in India and Australia, brutal reality checks he is now “grateful” for.

“I feel some people have said: 'He's had a bad tour, he's done.' My view is different. I'm 25 now, there's a huge opportunity for me to learn from that tour. Why can't I get better? It's not the be all and end all. It's happened, but it's not the complete journey. I'm not 35, 36, I'm 26 this week.

What of his captaincy? Will that borrow from Stokes, too?

“I’ll have my own style of course but the brand that Stokesy and co have implemented is now the England brand, whether you’re with the Lions or the Test side,” he said. “This whole idea of playing to win and being prepared to lose the game in order to win. One hundred per cent I’ll try to replicate that.”