MATT EYES AN ASHES LEG-UP

Lions games with Test squad give Parkinson a chance to make his spin dream come true

MATT PARKINSON has not abandoned hope of grabbing a last-minute invitation to The Ashes party, if England can get over their nerves about leg-spin.

The Lancashire bowler hopes to star for the

Lions in two warm-ups against Joe Root’s Test side before the series opener in Brisbane on December 8.

And he believes a decent showing may lead to him being asked to stay on in a pool of reserve players in case injury strikes.

England have no leg-spin option in their main 17-man Ashes group despite many feeling Parkinson is more of a game-changer than either Jack Leach or Dom Bess.

And Parkinson conceded it is unfortunate for him to come from a country which has never had confidence fielding wrist-spinners in red-ball cricket.

“English people want leg-spinners to play Test cricket too, but there’s a disconnect,” said

Parkinson, who sent down three overs on a rain-shortened first day of England’s in-house warm up between the Lions and the Ashes squad.

“Maybe it would have been easier now for me and Mason Crane if someone had come along and done consistently well.

But, because nobody has really come in and smashed it, there is always going to be that mystery or intrigue.

“Adil Rashid (left) is great and I think if he had played Test cricket for the last few years his record would be really good, but he hasn’t.

“Then you’re going back to Chris Schofield or Ian Salisbury in 2000. For guys like Jack or Dom, people know the likes of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar have done well and there isn’t that nervousness about picking them.

“I think there is a bit of nerves around picking us.”

A decent showing in either of the intra-squad matches – a second three-dayer gets under way on Tuesday – could see Parkinson asked to hang around.

“I guess I was slightly gutted not to get into the Ashes squad but I’m pleased to be out with the Lions. Hopefully I can stay on,” he added.

“I’m not ruling it out and I think all of the lads would say the same.

“The door’s open and if we perform well in these matches, score a hundred, take a five-for. Who knows? Rooty has seen plenty of me because I bowled about 3,000 balls to him in the nets in India last winter.

“I would like to show Joe and Spoons [head coach Chris Silverwood] that I’ve improved this year so they think, ‘Let’s keep him here’.”

Haseeb Hameed and Rory Burns were the only beneficiaries of a first day of the tour, scoring 53 and 38 respectively on a day limited by rain to 29 overs.

Despite not getting a bat, Ben Stokes was back on the pitch for his first return since taking time out in the summer.