London [UK], November 19 (ANI): Marcus Trescothick has backed young Jacob Bethell to shine for England by labelling him as the “next youngster” after Harry Brook.
The new era in England cricket is on the cusp of beginning with Brendon McCullum taking over the position of head coach across all formats.
Before McCullum begins his new journey, Trescothick unearthed some future talents during his run as interim head coach.
Among those youngsters, Bethell was the promising prospect that McCullum would get. The young left-hander proved that he could be the real deal with a string of sensational performances.
During the ODI series, Bethell became the third youngest half-centurion for England in the format’s history. Notably, his prowess wasn’t limited to just the 50-over format.
In the four T20s, Bethell made two fifties, averaged 127 and struck at 173.97, making him one of the top prospects in the white-ball format.
“All the attributes are there. If you had markers to be able to go, right, you need to do this, this and this, he’d be knocking on the door for that,” Trescothick said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
McCullum will have an opportunity to know Bethell better as he will travel with the England Test squad for the New Zealand tour as a reserve batter despite an underwhelming run in first class.
Trescothick sees Bethell as an exciting talent who has come through the ranks and holds the potential to flourish across all formats.
“There’s no reason why he can’t break through and succeed because he’s flourished in both formats that we’ve seen in the recent period of time. You could almost see him being the next youngster after Harry Brook, the real exciting one coming through for the next journey this group will take,” he added.
Apart from Bethell, right-arm pacer Saqib Mahmood is another player who holds the potential to cement his play on the back of some strong performances. He scythed nine wickets in four matches and ended as the leading wicket-taker in the T20I series. (ANI)
