Atherton sure Hameed will bounce back

CHRIS OSTICK MIKE Atherton believes Haseeb Hameed will overcome his current slump and force his way back into the England Test side.

Since bursting on to the international scene during the tour to India in the winter of 2016, the Lancashire opener has had a troubled time on the pitch.

Last season he scored just 520 first-class runs, with only three halfcenturies, and hasn’t reached three figures in the County Championship for two years. It saw the 21-yearold dropped from Lancashire’s Championship side after another poor start to this campaign, although was reinstated one match later batting at No.3.

In total he has scored 35 runs in six innings this season, with an average of 5.8, but returned to some form by scoring a century for both Lancashire seconds and his club side Formby. When he made two battling half-centuries in his first three Tests – one with a broken finger – he was tipped to be an England opener for the next 10 years.

However, he is now well down the pecking order in terms of the Test side.

But former Lancashire and England opener Atherton believes Hameed is simply too talented to not play Test cricket again.

“I hope he comes back, as a young Lancashire opener I would clearly feel an affinity for him,” the former England captain said. “There is no way you can play as he played two years ago in India and that season beforehand for Lancashire and not have a serious future as a top-class player. So I have no doubt he will come again and score loads of runs.

“He has obviously made adjustments to his game and he is a young man searching for the method that works for him.”