The huge crowds seen
this summer are a far cry from the patchy attendances that mark the
midweek games in Division 2 of the County Championship. It's in
those low-impact surroundings that Simon Kerrigan has built a
reputation for taking wickets under the radar.
In his breakthrough
season, Kerrigan came from nowhere to take 5 for 7 on a
disintegrating surface in the Midlands, and then topped it with a
match-winning 9 for 51 against Hampshire at the end of 2011.
However, as Kerrigan learned so cruelly this week, it's one thing to
face down county players on helpful surfaces, and another entirely to
step into an Ashes series that has seen more tension off the pitch
than on it.
Kerrigan was presented
with his first test cap by English cricket's most successful test
bowler, Ian Botham, and waited patiently for his chance. Finally,
Cook tossed him a buffed cherry and the torture began.
A succession of
floating invitations were cruelly dispatched by Australia's Shane
Watson, a man who is himself seen as something of an underachiever at
the crease. However, in this match, he was finding the middle of the
blade with everything. Kerrigan tried to vary his delivery, but
Watson read him at every turn and creamed him repeatedly to the
boundery rope. The nadir of a torrid day for the young left-armer
came when he was no-balled for a neck-high full toss at eventual
centurion Steve Smith. Predictably, that ball too ended up being
smashed away for four.
Kerrigan's figures
(8-0-53-0) might have been more reminiscent of Twenty-20 stats than a
test debut, but he is known for being a resilient character. He bit
back the frustration he must have felt, prowled the boundary rope
fruitlessly for the remainder of the day and would have told himself
that the next day would be better.
Except it wasn't.
While Australia went on to score nearly 500 runs, Kerrigan was
overlooked for the skiddy part-time medium pace of batsman Jonathan
Trott, who then piled on the agony for the young spinner by taking
the wicket that he couldn't. In the commentary after the game,
Geoffrey Boycott remarked that if he'd got out to Kerrigan, he would
have set himself up a noose in the dressing room.
If there is something
positive for the young spinner to take away from this game, it is
that you only get one debut, and not all stages will be as prominent
as this one. Other illustrious names, such as Shane Warne, took time
to bed in at international level before going on to become legends of
the game. At just 24 years old, there is plenty of time for Kerrigan
to make a name for himself with England.
Most of all, I feel for
him today. Which of us hasn't started something new and been
embarrassingly poor at it, or proven to be talented at something in
low-pressure surroundings only to choke when we are suddenly the
centre of attention? I know only too well how awful it feels to fail
to deliver under pressure. It takes strength of character to bounce
back and prove your doubters wrong; I really hope that Kerrigan will
do exactly that.
So I'm looking forward
to a moment in the not too distant future when I see a young English
spinner uproot the middle stump of a world class batsman. When he
does, I'll smile, because I know he's taking that journey for me too.
