Matt Parkinson reaping benefits of exposure to specialist spin coaches

NICK FRIEND: Time spent with Jeetan Patel over the winter added to previous stints in Australia with Stuart MacGill, as well as the watchful eye of Peter Such, until recently England’s lead spin bowling coach

As Matt Parkinson prepares to join up with England’s 30-man training squad at the Ageas Bowl next week, he believes he is reaping the benefits of having worked with a variety of specialist spin bowling coaches.

Time spent with Jeetan Patel over the winter across tours of New Zealand, South Africa and Sri Lanka added to previous stints in Australia with Stuart MacGill, as well as the watchful eye of Peter Such, until recently England’s lead spin bowling coach.

Richard Dawson, the Gloucestershire head coach and a former England off-spinner himself, has been seconded to assist Parkinson, Moeen Ali, Dom Bess, Jack Leach and Amar Virdi over the next few weeks. It will be the first time the pair have worked together and the first time they have met properly. Dawson led England Lions during their landmark, unbeaten trip to Australia at the start of the year and comes highly regarded.

Spin coaches, however, are not always the norm on the county circuit. It is a situation Parkinson would like to see rectified, even if he appreciates the difficulties at play.

“I just look back at when Peter Such was the England lead spin coach and you’d probably see him once every two months,” he said. “And he was stretched thin as well. Personally, I think there’s a place for them.

“We’re very lucky at Lancashire, we have Carl Crowe as well as a spin consultant, so I’ve had access to him when I come back from tour, and I think that’s where county cricket will probably end up going, with more of a consultancy-based [system].

“There aren’t enough spinners out there to probably warrant a full-time spin coach. I just know how lucky I’ve been to have had access to Stuart MacGill, Suchie, Jeetan this winter, whereas other spinners haven’t had that.”

He points to the impact of MacGill, to whom he still speaks about the art of leg-spin at regular intervals. Hampshire’s Mason Crane, Derbyshire’s Matt Critchley and Yorkshire's Josh Poysden have all enjoyed similar experiences with the former Australia wrist-spinner.

“I actually sent him some videos from maybe two weeks ago,” he adds. “He came back with a couple of points on my action, which was lovely.

“We had a fantastic relationship throughout the four months. It’s fantastic to have that. It’s also nice that I don’t have to message him every time. It’s maybe once every few weeks: ‘Hi mate, this is my action.’ And obviously I’m still very lucky to work with Jeetan, which probably took the pressure off me having to message Stu as much.

“It’s nice to hear new opinions. You don’t always have to take them on board – you have a little filter. If you take one thing from Jeets and two things from someone else, then fingers crossed I’m going in the right direction.”

^{Parkinson has returned to training following a prolonged break}

Glen Chapple is in charge at Lancashire, certainly no spinner – rather, a seamer and a taker of 985 first-class wickets. However, he has acted as a long-time mentor to Parkinson, helping him through a pair of stress fractures.

Like Dawson, he has been called upon to step into the England ranks, working with the 13 fast bowling options included in the training group.

In Parkinson’s mind, it represents deserved recognition for his county boss, who oversaw promotion back to the top tier of the County Championship last year.

“He’s been fantastic with me,” he said. “He’s given me the opportunity that has led to England selection. He’s been a fantastic mentor to me the past few years. I know the boys loved him on the 2018 Lions trip to West Indies. He did some good work there.

“I’m quite lucky in a way that as a spinner my mechanics are quite similar to a fast bowler. I’m not your typical Warne-esque spinner. For Chappie, I think he sees a bit of that and it probably makes it easier for him to relate. It doesn’t have to be a spin coach to point out a change for you.”

Since returning to training as part of an initial 55-man squad, Parkinson has bowled at both Emirates Old Trafford and since West Indies’ arrival – they are quarantining at Lancashire’s headquarters – at Chester Boughton Hall CC.

On Tuesday, he will head south to the Ageas Bowl, ready for the next stage of this unusual summer.

“I’m going to try to make it as homely as possible,” he explained. “I’m going to take my coffee machine down with me, I’ve got a good number of books that I’m going to read and I’m going to take my PlayStation down as well, but I’m not a big golfer. I know they’re putting up some golf simulators and the tee-times at the Ageas, but that’s not my cup of tea, so I’ll probably just chill.

“I’m reading Last Kingdom books at the minute – Bernard Cornwell. They’re very good. I’d recommend them.”

Parkinson’s last bowl came in Sri Lanka, where he impressed during the warmup games ahead of a two-match Test series that was ultimately aborted as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

It means that he enters the next few weeks with positive memories, having endured a “tough winter” beforehand.

He took five wickets in the T20I series against New Zealand in November, before finding it more difficult on the red-ball leg of the tour and then again in South Africa. Yet, he feels that he did himself justice in Katunayake, where he took four wickets against a Sri Lanka Cricket XI, and then in Colombo against a Sri Lanka Board President’s’ XI before that match was halted and the remainder of the trip postponed.

^{Parkinson impressed in his warmup games in Sri Lanka}

“To perform as well as I did in the opening ten days in Sri Lanka was pleasing,” he added. “When it first got cancelled, I was gutted – I could potentially have missed out on maybe playing or being actually close to playing.

“But as the last couple of months have unfolded and things have got worse and worse, you start seeing it for what it is really, which is a game. Obviously, looking three months ago, I was gutted because I probably didn’t do enough in New Zealand or South Africa with the red ball to warrant selection.

“And then the warmup games didn’t go as well as I would have wanted, so to tick that box in the leadup to the Test match and having had a decent day and a half in the first-class game that followed as well, it was nice to be in a bit more of a relaxed position, thinking I had actually done okay here and if I’m selected I’m ready to go.”

Back in March, having returned from Sri Lanka, Parkinson opened up to The Cricketer on the challenges of the winter, highlighting the increased scrutiny that comes with the international arena.

“Obviously, I had a positive start in New Zealand and it gradually got worse and worse really,” he reflected then. “I try not to read much of it anymore – I found myself reading the good stuff but hardly reading it, but then reading the bad stuff over and over.

“I think with what I do as well, it’s quite a focal point for the English cricket media – the state of spin bowling and the depth that we have, it’s always going to be a talking point until someone cracks down a position.

“I’ve had very minimal exposure to it, but I stopped reading things in South Africa really, around Christmas time. I took Twitter off my phone, took Instagram off and just sort of chilled.”

He puts the winter down as a learning curve. His first involvement with England, he has experienced the highs and lows of international cricket.

“Try and become the complete bowler is everyone’s aim, isn’t it? Parkinson said. “I think it’s one of those things where the more you play, the more you get used to the level you’re playing at.

“I think that was a big learning from the winter – that it was a step-up from what I’m used to and there probably [are] a couple of work-ons to do to be successful at that level.

“You can’t just probably go with what’s worked in first-class cricket, which you’ve obviously been successful in to get selected. Probably there have been some learnings I’ve had from over the winter and fingers crossed I’ll show people that I’ve improved.”

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