Charlie Hemphrey: County failure or England's next big thing?
Thursday 19 March 2015 13:57, UK
England announced their 16-man party for next month’s tour of the West Indies on Wednesday with the odd surprise selection. But perhaps they didn’t cast the net wide enough, with one man not selected achieving something none the squad has managed.
Charlie Hemphrey is the first English batsman to score a century in the Sheffield Shield since John Hampshire for Tasmania in 1978, with 118 in Queensland’s five-wicket win over South Australia on Monday.
But the Doncaster-born 25-year-old isn’t likely to become the seventh Yorkshireman in the England squad as he has played only five first-class games, all for Queensland this winter.
He’s had spells with the second teams of Derbyshire, Essex and most recently Kent in 2012 but was generally confined to playing for his Kent club side, Hartley Country Club, who boast Sam Billings, Joe Denly and Matt Coles as current or former players.
Impressive
Hemphrey emigrated to Australia 18 months ago following a century-less spell for the club across 38 innings from 2012 to 2014, but impressive form shown in grade cricket earned him a place in Queensland’s under-23 squad.
He repaid their faith with 140 in his second game in November but had to wait until February for his first class debut and scored a second-ball duck against Victoria when it did arrive.
Scores of 58, 31, 2, 44 and 45 followed before he made his mark with a hundred in Queensland’s final game of the season.
Despite the win, it wasn’t enough to force Queensland into the final, which will be contested between Victoria and Western Australia from Saturday.
But it certainly might be enough to perhaps see Hemphrey earn a country contract for 2015 or dare he dream greater, a place in England’s next Test squad.
