Northants loan can help give Simon incentive to fill Test void
WHEN it comes to Simon Kerrigan’s international career, unfinished business hardly scratches the surface of a man who still bears scars of his one and only Test match.
But make no mistake, the Lancashire spinner is not someone who is willing to keep staring at the past.
Instead, the 28-year-old has chosen to switch to Northamptonshire on loan for the rest of the season, a move designed to reignite a career that some from the outside fear has stalled.
But more than four years since his ill-fitting international bow against Australia, which saw him ship 53 runs in eight overs, Kerrigan is adamant the form that got him there is not a fluke.
“I’m still an attacking spinner, nothing’s really changed in that from five or six years ago, but I’ve also learnt more about being the percentage spinner,” he said.
“International cricket is still the ambition, at the moment the focus is about getting into the Northants side and then the Lancashire team and seeing where that takes me.
“There is unfinished business with England, I’ve learned so much from that experience and I’m definitely better off for it, I was given the go and now I’ve had a chance to work through any technical and mental issues that I hadn’t even known existed.
“It was good to get that, every day you’re learning from them. I struggled in that Test and you think about your game plan, your mental approaches and try and make sure you get yourself into the right state.”
This season is unlikely to be one that will go down in history for Kerrigan, making just two Championship appearances for the Red Rose with Stephen Parry and Matt Parkinson ahead of him in the pecking order.
But with one year left to run on his contract, the onecounty man – born and raised in Preston – is not one to cut his ties quite yet.
After all, this is still the same man who took 9-51 against Hampshire in 2011, while first-class cricket has yielded not only more than 300 wickets, but 20,000 deliveries and experience in abundance.
Still only 28, Kerrigan is far from being put out to pasture.
“It’s been a frustrating time for me this year, I’m grateful for Northants to giving me that opportunity and a chance to get some more game-time,” he added.
“The only way I’m getting back in that Lancashire side is by playing as much firstclass cricket as I can on good pitches, that’s my aim and my focus remains the same.
“It’s never nice being out of the loop, but as a professional cricketer that is something you sometimes have to deal with.
“Other players are battling for your place, we’ve got some quality players and I’ve always said that you want to have other people there for competition. My aim is to make sure I get myself back into a team that is currently doing really well.”