Nottinghamshire’s Haseeb Hameed sees ‘whole picture’ and eyes an England return

Haseeb Hameed feels in a “better space” than when he last represented England as he attempts to reignite his international ambitions in the early weeks of the Rothesay County Championship.

The opener was a casualty of the 2021-22 Ashes and a perceived defensive style has kept him sidelined during the ‘Bazball’ era but a 4-1 defeat in Australia last winter could bring him back from the cold.

England have pledged to re-engage with the county game again, which puts a number of outcasts on notice ahead of the start of the championship on Friday, with Hameed leading Nottinghamshire’s title defence.

Still only 29, Hameed made in excess of 1,000 runs in 2024 and 2025 and believes he has found extra gears – having been dubbed ‘Baby Boycott’ when he first broke on to the scene a decade ago.

“You go through an experience like (being dropped by England) and you have to look at your game,” he said. “It’s almost like you hit rock-bottom and you see it as an opportunity to really work things out.

“One of the things I identified (was) the importance of being able to put pressure back on the best bowlers in the world. The best batters still get out to good balls but what separates them from the not as good players is probably their ability to put the bad ball away for four consistently.

“I feel like I’m in a better space now. I know my game has evolved and developed to a nice place now and I feel like I’ve been able to show that over the past couple of years.

“The ambition to play for England will always be there. At 29, I’d like to think I’ve still got the best years ahead of me and hopefully a lot of those years will be in an England shirt.”

England’s next outing is not until June 4 in the first of three Tests against New Zealand, with all 18 counties in action six times during the first seven-week window of the championship.

A new national selector to succeed Luke Wright will be announced in the coming weeks although Hameed insisted his immediate focus is on Nottinghamshire’s season-opener against Somerset at Taunton.

“There’s more talk with the slightly different circumstances the England Test team find themselves in but the important thing is to do my thing and that will look after everything else,” Hameed said.

“Maybe the captaincy over the last couple of years has helped me because the focus on you as an individual is naturally lessened a little bit, you have to focus more on the whole picture.”

While Nottinghamshire will be boosted by the presence of Ben Duckett in the early rounds after he withdrew from the Indian Premier League, Surrey are the pre-season favourites to regain their title.

The 2022, 2023 and 2024 champions have Alec Stewart back at the Kia Oval, while Ollie Pope, Jamie Smith and Gus Atkinson will be eager to lay down a marker after the trio endured a bruising Ashes.

“We have to move on from last season, as amazing and as special as it was, it’s a fresh start,” Hameed said, having captained Nottinghamshire to their first championship title since 2010 last year.

Durham and Lancashire have been tipped for promotion to Division One, while the England and Wales Cricket Board announced this week the introduction of a season-long trial of player replacements.

The replacements, which must be like-for-like, cover injury, illness plus significant life events, such as attending the birth of their child or family bereavements.01