At the age of 19 years, 297 days Haseeb Hameed became the youngest debutant to open for England in Test cricket. He was also only the second opener from Lancashire to play for the national side since Michael Atherton last played in 2001. His inclusion wasn’t a surprise given his exploits in the domestic circuit and at the Under-19 level.
Born and brought up in Lancashire, Hameed was always touted for greater success in life. He made his First-Class debut against Glamorgan at Manchester in 2015, scoring a 119-ball 28. The accolades never stopped for him despite a sedate start to his FC career. "Hameed is one of the best young players I've seen in a long time" said Andrew Gale, the captain of the Yorkshire county team against whom Hameed hit two tons in a single game, his first ever Roses (Yorkshire vs Lancashire) match. A breakthrough season in the Championship followed with him scoring 1,200 runs at an average of 49.9. He became the youngest to score 1,000 runs for Lancashire, going past a record held by Atherton.
Hameed came through the ranks with a stellar performance in the U-19 series against South Africa, piling up 389 runs in 5 games - the most by any batsman in a youth bilateral one-day series. It was this series that got Hameed a contract with Lancashire and the rest as they say is history.
