The Lancashire opener Haseeb Hameed, who is eyeing for an opening in the England team, has scored his second century of the match before Yorkshire put themselves in position for a late charge at an imposing victory target of 367. The charge failed to materialise as the teams settled for a draw.
Without doubt, Hameed was the star of this match. The right-hander put himself into the record books during an entertaining session of batting, which brought 162 runs from 23 overs. In moving from 30 overnight to 100 not out off 124 balls, sharing 168 for the first wicket with Tom Smith (87) along the way, Hameed, aged 19 years and 212 days, became the youngest Lancastrian to post 1,000 Championship runs in a season – and the fifth youngest in all.
He also became the youngest Lancastrian to post two hundreds in the same match against any opponent, the first to do it against Yorkshire and only the third for either side in this fixture. He is also the youngest to post two hundreds in an English first-class match.
Hameed also became the first teenage opener to post four hundreds in a County Championship season, with Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick and Rob Key among those to score two. Ashley Giles, Lancashire’s cricket director and head coach, has, on numerous occasions, spoken of his admiration for Hameed and how he believes the Boltonian will play for England. This month he said: “I said that he would play for England within four years, but I think it’ll be earlier than that now. I wouldn’t want him to get so that he can’t get his head through the door, but he has that temperament and the desire to keep getting better and better.”
