Simon Kerrigan

Simon Christopher Kerrigan (born 10 May 1989) is an English cricketer who currently plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club. He bowls slow left arm orthodox spin. Kerrigan signed for the club in September 2008, and made his debut for the first team in 2010, filling in for Gary Keedy, Lancashire's senior spinner. In August 2011, Kerrigan was selected for the England Lions for the first time. The following month he took the best first-class bowling figures for Lancashire since 1953 (9 wickets for 51 runs).^[1] He made his Test debut against Australia in the fifth Ashes Test played at The Oval in 2013.

Career

Born in Preston, Lancashire, Kerrigan started his cricket as a junior at Palace Shield Premiership club Fulwood & Broughton before moving on to Ormskirk in the Liverpool and District Cricket Competition.^[2] He received his first contract with Lancashire in September 2008 along with ten other young cricketers.^[3] In 2009, Kerrigan broke into Lancashire's second team which progressed to the final of the Second XI Championship and the semi-final of the Second XI Trophy.^[4] Gary Keedy, Lancashire's experienced and established spinner, suffered a broken collar bone in April 2010, immediately before the start of the English cricket season. With several months on the sidelines, Keedy's absence gave the opportunity to young spinners Kerrigan and Stephen Parry to play first team cricket. Lancashire coach Peter Moores said "We’re lucky in some ways in that we’ve got Stephen Parry, who played quite a lot of first-team cricket last season, but we’ve also got Simon Kerrigan, who bowled beautifully to take six wickets in the pre-season game against Yorkshire in Barbados and we could also use Steven Crofty's off-spin".^[5] Kerrigan made his first-class debut in Lancashire's first match of the season taking his maiden five wicket haul and finishing with seven wickets in the match to help Lancashire to victory over Warwickshire. His maiden wicket was that of England cricketer Ian Bell.^[6][7] Kerrigan played 13 first-class matches in his first full season with Lancashire, taking 30 wickets at an average of 32.23 including three five-wicket hauls.^[8] When Keedy returned from injury he and Kerrigan sometimes bowled together in the County Championship. However, their partnership was not initially ideal as they were attempting to out perform each other. After a discussion they decided they would be more effective if they worked together to build pressure while bowling.^[9]

In February 2011, Kerrigan spent 16 days at a spin bowling camp run by the England Cricket Board (ECB).^[10] With Keedy in good form, Kerrigan did not play until Lancashire's fourth County Championship match of the 2011 season. The opportunity only arose through injuries to the team's fast bowlers. He took five wickets for seven runs (5/7) in Warwickshire's second innings to take his team to a 147-run victory. Warwickshire's coach and former England spinner Ashley Giles was impressed by Kerrigan's performance. With three wins from four matches, Lancashire moved to the top of the table.^[11] Despite limited opportunities in the County Championship because of Keedy's dominance, Kerrigan played ten matches in the CB40 and six twenty20 games. His aim at the start of the season was to be selected for the England Lions,^[12] and following an injury to fellow left-arm spin bowler Danny Briggs this was achieved. Kerrigan was called up to the Lions squad to face Sri Lanka A in a three match one-day series in August.^[13] While Keedy was frequently chosen over Kerrigan in the County Championship, Kerrigan cited Keedy's advice as being useful, saying "always coming down to you if he thinks you're doing something you shouldn't be doing or maybe what you should be doing".^[12] In the penultimate County Championship match of the season Kerrigan took career best innings figures of 9/51 to take Lancashire to a 222-run win over Hampshire. The final wicket of the match was claimed with just four minutes of play left and was greeted with a mini pitch invasion as the victory kept Lancashire in contention for the title. Kerrigan recorded the best bowling figures for Lancashire since Roy Tattersall's 9/40 in 1953.^[14]

On the back of his performances for Lancashire, Kerrigan was included in the 17-man England Performance Programme squad for November and December, during which time he would train in Loughborough and then Sri Lanka where he would gain experience of conditions in the country.^[15] He was also included in the 16-man England Lions squad to tour Bangladesh in January 2012.^[16] After the Lions lost a five match one-day series against Bangladesh A 3–2, Kerrigan was one of four players left out of the squad for the tour of Sri Lanka;^[17] Kerrigan took three wickets in as many matches at an average of 44.66.^[18]

On 21 August 2013, Kerrigan was named in the team for the 5th Test at The Oval against Australia in the 2013 Ashes.^[2]

References

External links

• Player profile: Simon Kerrigan from CricketArchive
• Player profile: Simon Kerrigan from ESPNcricinfo