COVERED SPRING 2020

COVERED 16 TRENTBRIDGE.CO.UK “You hope that one day it all comes together and you can access other avenues in the game. “I’m not expecting, at the age of 23, to be able to adapt easily to all three formats. “If you look at world cricket right now, I’m not sure there’s many that are excelling in all three. “It’s nice to have that aspiration, but you’ve got to be realistic enough to know that these things take time.” And what of that rollercoaster England experience? Debuting on the world stage, in the country of his heritage and succeeding with the bat to the tune of averaging 44 was the high point. Breaking a finger and not making a return to the squad since is the low. Haseeb is boxing off his brush with the Three Lions as great memories, but also a source of motivation to achieve great things, starting with the domestic game. “My Test debut is an incredible, beautiful memory,” he says. “But I can’t be content with that. I’m still very young. Being able to do it at such a young age was a privilege, but it doesn’t change what I want to achieve moving forwards. “I can’t think about it too much because the way I got into that England Test team in the first place was by performing well for Lancashire. “My sole focus at that point was to do my best in county cricket. That hasn’t changed. That’s the way I’m approaching this new chapter in my life as well. “I’m getting stuck in with the Notts lads. From what I’ve seen so far, in terms of the way everyone’s going about their business, we can build something special. “I’ll take it game-by-game, innings-by- innings, and try to perform at my best each time I go out there for Nottinghamshire. “I’ve learned through experience what helps me be successful and what doesn’t. It’s a gradual process. It’s doing the little things day in day out that gets you there. “Hopefully I can do things that make the guys around me – the coaches, the members and the fans – happy. “Life doesn’t always go the way you want it to go. Nor does cricket, and that’s actually a good, positive thing. “It comes down to approaching every single innings that you play and doing your best. Take each day as it comes because, what tomorrow throws at you, no-one knows.” “MY TEST DEBUT IS AN INCREDIBLE, BEAUTIFUL MEMORY. BUT I CAN’T BE CONTENT WITH THAT… IT DOESN’T CHANGE WHAT I WANT TO ACHIEVE M0VING FORWARDS.” Haseeb Hameed