Haseeb Hameed

Born: January 17, 1997, Bolton, Lancashire

Role: Opening batsman

Debut: 2014

Talented and humble in equal measure; Haseeb Hameed is destined for greatness. He has adopted many nicknames; The Bolton Blocker, Baby Boycott, but he is desperate to shake his tag as a red-ball specialist and expand his game to become the complete batsman. Watching a player defend and leave the ball can often be dull to watch, but Hameed has the ability to make it enjoyable.

With most young cricketers, there is an argument in favour of letting them develop at county level before they are put in front of the quickest and most skilful bowlers in the world. Hameed was tested by a rampant India side when he was still only 19, but he thrived.

After just 12 County Championship appearances in 2016, Hameed defied his tender age to become Lancashire’s youngest player to reach 1,000 runs in a season, achieving several other records in an eye-catching summer for the Red Rose county.

There are few sterner measures of a batsman’s credentials than playing against Yorkshire and Hameed – a player of incredible maturity and consistency for his age – scored hundreds in both innings of the meeting at Manchester.

It was the first time this had been achieved by a Lancashire player in a Roses encounter and it helped Hameed to reach 1,000 runs for the season quicker than Michael Atherton, who was 21 when he achieved the same feat for the Red Rose in 1989.

Hameed made his first-team debut in August 2014 against Glamorgan and he has since scored four centuries. He hopes to broaden his scope outside of the red-ball format after reaching such an accomplished level already for Lancashire.

His strong technique is something his father encouraged from a young age, with family playing a key role in his development through the age groups at Lancashire. With a desire to play for club and country in all three formats, the opening batsman is aiming to build on mastering the basics by adding to his repertoire and ultimately follow in the footsteps of the likes of Joe Root and Virat Kohli.

The first of his hundreds came in a County Championship game against Warwickshire at Old Trafford and he went on to hit centuries against Nottinghamshire and two in one Rose match.

He finished the season with 1,154 runs at an average of 52, the Player of the Year award and he also became the youngest Lancashire player to receive a county cap since the war.

Hameed had made only 19 appearances in the four-day format when he made his Test debut against India in the sub-continent. He was still just a teenager, but he defied his age at the top of the innings alongside Alastair Cook.

A solid 82 in his second innings on debut justified his selection as England’s youngest Test opener and he is likely to be the long-term successor to Cook as a technically correct opening batsman.