PERKY PARKY VERY HAPPY TO SLOW THINGS DOWN
MATT PARKINSON does not care if people think he bowls too slowly.
The Lancashire leggie might send the ball down slower than others in his class but he still takes some key wickets.
First there was a Shane Warne-esque ball to remove Adam Rossington while playing against Northants.
Then he bowled Imam-ul-haq at Edgbaston with a ball that turned more than any other in the Cricviz ODI stats database.
That was while Adil Rashid, 33, (inset) was in isolation. The pair were picked together for the first time in the T20 win against Pakistan on Sunday and hope to remain for the decider today.
“To bowl from the other end of probably the best spinner in the world in Rash was fantastic,” said Parkinson, 24.
“A lot gets highlighted about how slowly I bowl. He bowls faster than me, he uses his googly more than me. I think we are different and that’s why it worked well.
“It is a rare thing and not many teams would do that to be fair.
Hopefully I’ve performed well enough for England to consider playing two leg spinners again. “There has been plenty said about my pace and on tour in South Africa I was looking up at the board to see if I could push 47mph or something.
“But no, I just saw that and embraced it. I’d like to be the only bowler that does it this way, it would be pretty cool not to have to conform to what other spinners do but actually just be niche.” Parkinson’s reward should be a first appearance on his home ground of Old Trafford in an England shirt.
It should also help make up for the days and hours spent on tour over the previous winter in Sri Lanka and India without actually playing a single game.
ENGLAND: Buttler (wk), Roy, Moeen, Livingstone, Bairstow, Morgan (c), Jordan, Rashid, Ball, Mahmood, Parkinson.
PAKISTAN: Rizwan (wk), Azam (c), Maqsood, Hafeez, Zaman, Khan, Wasim, Shadab, Afridi, Rauf, Hasnain
UMPIRES: Alex Wharf and David Millns.
6.30pm, Sky Sports.