Hameed out as Chapple rings changes for Lancashire
GLEN Chapple has rung the changes for Lancashire’s crucial Specsavers County Championship match against Somerset, which starts at Taunton today.
The out-of-form Haseeb Hameed has been left out along with Rob Jones from the side that beat Worcestershire last week, while there is still no place for West Indies Test legend Shivnarine Chanderpaul - who has had a poor campaign while Jordan Clark misses out with a hamstring strain.
In comes Karl Brown and Brooke Guest from the second team, along with Liam Hurt and Danny Lamb.
And there is a huge boost with - as reported in yesterday’s M.E.N. Sport – captain Liam Livingstone has been declared fit to lead the side after recovering from a broken thumb.
For Hameed, it is another blow in what has been a season to forget.
Just over 18 months ago he was being tipped as the long-term successor to Alastair Cook as England openers.
But on the day Cook announced his retirement from Test cricket, Hameed was left out of the Red Rose squad having scored just 165 runs in 17 innings at an average of just 9.70 in the Championship this season.
Matthew Parkinson, who was a surprised admission from the Worcestershire victory at Southport, remains in the squad and could play alongside new signing Keshav Maharaj today if the Taunton pitch looks like turning.
“Parky is a quality spinner, and he’s still learning,” said coach Chapple.
“We didn’t want all the pressure of winning matches to fall on his shoulders.
“Spinners can play an important part at the back end of the season.
“Keshav’s a world-class spinner. Also, when you look at signing players at this stage of the season, you are limited.
“We didn’t want to go for an OK player, we wanted to go for a proven Test performer, and we’ve got that.
“The two of them can play together.”