Matthew Parkinson cricket: The 25-year-old leg-spinner was roped into the playing 11 as Jack Leach’s concussion substitute at Lord’s.
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An unlikely manner for sure, but the 25-year-old Matt Parkinson’s dream to play for England did come true at the iconic Lord’s Cricket Ground just inside the first hour of play on Day 1, of the first Test match between England and New Zealand.
It took a boundary saving effort from the left-arm spinner Jack Leach, which had the stars aligned for an England debut for Parkinson, as he travelled around 320 kilometers to make it to the match venue.
For those unaware, Leach unfortunately tumbled over his head during the 6th Over of the first innings in a bid to save a boundary, and showed signs of concussion, only to be later ruled out of the ongoing Test.
Right-arm leg-spinner Parkinson, who was not part of the England squad for the series, had to replace Leach in the playing 11 as his like-to-like replacement.
Number 7️⃣0️⃣5️⃣
Congratulations Matt Parkinson! 🏴🦁#ENGvNZ pic.twitter.com/NAWIKOVYzz
— Ben Stokes’s Barmy Army (@TheBarmyArmy) June 3, 2022
Matthew Parkinson cricket
Parkinson, who made his international debut for England in November 2019 during the five-match T20I series against New Zealand, has so far represented England in 5 ODIs and 4 T20Is.
As far as the longest format of the game is concerned, this spinner from Lancashire has played a total of 37 First-Class matches, and has scalped a total of 126 wickets at an average of 23.84.
Are Matt and Callum Parkinson brothers?
With a birth time difference of mere 16 minutes, Matthew and Callum Parkinson are twins born in Bolton, Lancashire in the year 1996.
While Matt went on to make his FC debut for Lancashire in 2016, brother Callum made his maiden appearance for Leicestershire in the very same year.
A left-arm orthodox spinner, Callum is presently the skipper of his County side Leicestershire, and has earned a good enough name for himself for his all-round abilities, especially in the T20 format, where he usually bowls in the Powerplay.
In the past, the twins have played club Cricket at Urmston in the Cheshire league and they became the first twins to represent Staffordshire (information source: Cricbuzz).
