Run-king Haines putting himself in England frame
“LOOKS a bloody good player in my humble opinion” was the final tweet sent by Rob Key before he was appointed England’s new managing director of men’s cricket.
Key was watching Tom Haines, Sussex’s young captain, bat on the opening day of the season, when he made 59 against Nottinghamshire at Hove.
A little over a week later, Key was appointed to his new job and, neatly, Haines compiled a career-best 243 in the highest partnership of the season (351 with Cheteshwar Pujara) to save a game that once seemed doomed against Derbyshire. Haines’s phone ran hot with mates sending him Key’s tweet.
It is easy to see what Key likes about Haines. In a struggling Sussex side, he led the County Championship run-scoring charts last season with 1,176, which was 101 more than any other batter.
He is an organised left-hander who describes his approach as “simple, not overcomplicating things”, the virtues Key espoused in his first two jobs as a player and pundit.
“It’s all the stuff you’ve heard before,” Haines tells Standard Sport. “A clear mind, a simple technique, get through tough spells, hit the bad ball for four. Actually doing it is harder than saying it, but that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Since his breakout year, Haines’s gig has become, arguably, the toughest in county cricket. He led Sussex a bit last summer, but has since become the youngest club captain in the game.
At 23, he is combining opening the batting with leading a team who are bottom of Division Two after three games and have seen a clear-out of senior players. Sussex are trusting youth to an almost unprecedented degree and have already used eight players younger than Haines this season.
Haines carefully thought through whether to take on the captaincy, consulting his father and others close to him. They drew up a list of “benefits and downfalls” before deciding it was too good an opportunity to turn down.
“I feel there are lots of benefits for me in terms of learning the game,” he says. “I think if you are scoring runs as captain, that is looked upon well. I always enjoyed captaincy in the age groups, second team. I like leading the team, having to think about the game closely as it goes along.
“You have to deal with stresses and pressures, so splitting the captaincy and the batting is important. I have enjoyed it so far, and that’s because I’m really trying to separate what happens in the field and when I’m batting. When I’m batting, it’s leading from the front and scoring runs. In the field, I concentrate solely on that.”
Haines says he has been helped by senior players such as Pujara and Steven Finn, and the runs are still flowing from the local lad’s bat: since the start of last summer his average is 50.6. That suggests a young man taking the responsibility in his stride.
He is an organised lefthander who describes his approach as ‘simple, not overcomplicating things’
Haines was unfortunate to miss out on England Lions selection last winter, but says he “accepted it, didn’t dwell on it, got my head down and worked hard” in a bid for another big season.
“I wanted to back up a good season with another good year, which is tough,” he says. “It’s been a decent start but a lot of hard work to put in. Runs are the currency that get you where you want to be. For me, that has always been playing Test cricket for England.
“It’s nice to have my name linked to that, but I can’t get caught up in it. Do that and you lose focus on the here and now. It’s such a tough schedule — I can’t lose focus on that.”
An attitude like that will keep Key interested, no doubt.