ASHLEY Giles believes Bolton star Haseeb Hameed has his sights firmly set on becoming the best batsman in England.

Hameed, aged 18, has forged a reputation as not only one of the most promising cricketers in Lancashire, but also across the whole country following a string of eye-catching scores for his county’s second XI and England Under-19s.

With a broken hand ruling opener Luis Reece out for the foreseeable future, Hameed is a replacement option open to Giles – possibly even for tomorrow’s clash with Leicestershire at Grace Road.

The former Farnworth Social Circle junior is close to finishing his A-level exams at Bolton School, so it would be no surprise to see him miss out against Leicester.

But Giles expects to see Hameed in first-team action sooner rather than later.

“I can’t tell you whether he’s ready, but I think if I threw him in, I wouldn’t be frightened,” said Giles, Lancashire’s cricket director and head coach.

“I’ve not seen a lot of him, to be honest. I can’t make stuff up. He’s been around the group a bit, and he looks a very accomplished young player. I like the way he works.

“He practices a lot. He comes in with his father and trains very specifically and hard. You want to see that from a young player.

“I think he’s very clear and focused about what he wants. I think he’s probably focused on playing for England and being the best batsman in the country. That’s how he comes across.

“He just loves batting. That’s a good trait to have because batters need this little bit of selfishness because you are out there to get runs.

“When you have that bit of selfishness, you often find ways not to get out. Your percentages are played slightly differently. He strikes me as that sort of player.

“It’s easy from the outside to say ‘we’ve lost an opener and we’ve got this kid at 17 or 18’. But we’ve got other guys who have lined up well. Karl Brown’s been playing well and Liam Livingstone’s a world record breaker!

“Haseeb is another one in the mix, and he’s the future of the club. But he’s a young player who will make mistakes, and you can’t expect him to go in and average 100, although it would be lovely if he did.”