I love the lad, but like he said in his interview after play yesterday he probably hasn't made enough hundreds in comparison to some of the other contenders.
His game looks in a good place right now though and he seems well mentally they could do worse...
He definitely should have got more of a go in ODI's.
I feel like if he'd converted himself to opener and made a decent fist of it he'd defo have got a shot by now, when you look at some of the people that have been given chances, if they weren't openers they wouldn't be near the discussion. people like ben McKinney have got frequent mentions as possible options with virtually no body of work behind them just because the cupboard at opener is so bare. Much harder to get a place in the middle order with Root and now brook nailing 2 slots down.
He definitely should have got more of a go in ODI's.
yeah like i say thats one where the 100 has effectively robbed him of the shop window, even more so as the combination of the poor opportunities he has been given (only selected half the time, played at 5 coming in late in innings), and his awful form in the 100 when he has played, has really undermined the wider perception of him.
oh god I missed the obvious one being that Bethell got one of those no3-5 slots in the test team on exactly 0 body of work. #vibes, though.
It's hard to see Sam getting a Test Match chance now but I do think that if he had been given the chance when he was younger he could have nailed the number 3 slot that England have struggled with since Trotty retired.
As for 50 over cricket, something is wrong if someone who has been consistently rated amongst the top List A batsmen in the world only gets one, token cap. Down to England seeing 50 overs as extended T20s perhaps.
So, yes, I think he's hard done by but whenever I'm at an opposition ground, the locals all know and respect Sam Hain. That's something to be proud of.
In between 2016 and 2018 the likes of James Vince, Tom Westley, Dawid Malan and Nick Compton all got opportunity in the Test side at varying positions from no.3 to no.5 with varying degrees of success but not really nailing down the spot (you could argue Malan did a bit). I may have missed somebody too.
This was Hain's opportunity with the spots available and coming off the back of a strong 2014 and 2015.
He averaged something in the 20's in 2016, 15 or so in 2017 (imagine the stick he'd have got in here these days..) and about 30 in 2018 in div 2 (I remember he never made a ton that year.).
He missed the moment I think.
Since then, particularly since 2022, he's been absolutely elite. Totally phenomenal. Unfortunately Jonny Baitstow had a renaissance of sorts in 2022 then some bloke called Harry Brook became a superstar whilst Joe Root went from good strength to incredible strength.
As has been said though, should have played more ODI's, they should have just found a way to get him in. I always imagined he'd have been excellent in the sub continent.
And even with his List A cricket, the advent of the Hundread fucked him up. Hes hardly played any One Day cricket in 5 or so years.
From Ian Westwood’s interview on the club site:
“He’s [Sam Hain] been so consistent. I’ve seen a real desire from him to lead the batting line up this. He’s been desperate to win, and he’s been exceptional. He’s been playing on one leg for the last six weeks. Injury wise, we were expecting him to be out for most of the season, if not all, but he was so determined. I can’t speak highly enough of him.”
It’s interesting to know just how bad the injury he suffered was then in that case. To see players prepared to put themselves through that to battle us to the title is something special. He just loves this club.
Love that.