Lions Tour better fit for Parkinson
GRAHAM Onions has urged England not to take Matthew Parkinson on tour to Sri Lanka if they aren’t planning to play him.
The Lancashire spinner has been picked in the squads for the last two Test series – in New Zealand and the current one in South Africa.
However, the 23-year-old has yet to make his debut. And even with fellow spinner Jack Leach having been forced to return home through illness, Dom Bess has been drafted into the squad and picked ahead of the Red Rose ace.
England are likely to take at least three spinners to Sri Lanka in March, with the pitches in Galle and Colombo set to turn.
Talks are ongoing between the England management and Moeen Ali, who withdrew himself from the squad in the summer after losing his appetite for Test cricket.
If he returns, Parkinson could still go on the tour, depending on Leach’s recovery.
But his Lancashire team-mate Onions says England should look to send him on the Lions tour, which is just starting in Australia.
“Matt Parkinson has to be thinking ‘I’ve done nothing wrong’,” said the former England paceman.
“He is nowhere near the team. He has been leapfrogged by Bess and now there’s talk of Moeen Ali coming back, but if you want an out-and-out matchwinner, Parky is great.
“They need to see if he can play at that level.
“He won’t have an opportunity at the start of the season with Lancashire because the wickets won’t be conducive to spin.
“At the start of the season our line-up will be myself if I get the nod, Jimmy Anderson if he is fit, Richard Gleeson and Saqib Mahmood, or you have Tom Bailey. How is he going to fit in when the pitches are going to be green?
“It is really tough for him.
“England have a tour to Sri Lanka, they have to take two or three spinners.
“But if Parkinson isn’t going to get into the side, then they shouldn’t take him. Send him on a Lions tour instead.
“He will learn a few things if he does go, but he needs to bowl, to learn and develop.
“He didn’t play many games last year, but he won us one game last season in the Championship.
“As a whole he bowls a bit slow in red ball cricket, he has had a few injuries but he spins it. If there is anything in the pitch he will spin it hard.
“He has a googly, he has a slider out the front and for a leg spinner he has control and performs well when people are coming at him.”