England spinner Parkinson hopeful of playing the 1st Test against WI

Parkinson is one of five spinners included in England's 30-man training camp at the Ageas Bowl ahead of the series, which begins on July 8.

London: Young England leg-spinner Matt Parkinson is hopeful of getting the nod on a spinning Old Trafford pitch where they will take on the West Indies in the first two Tests.

England will take on the Windies in three Tests in what will be the first top-level cricket competition since the sport came to a standstill due to the coronavirus pandemic in March.

England vs West Indies schedule:

Date	Time (IST)	Test Matches	Venue
July 8-12	3:30 PM	England vs West Indies 1st Test	Ageas Bowl
July 16-20	3:30 PM	England vs West Indies 2nd Test	Emirates Old Trafford
July 24-28	3:30 PM	England vs West Indies 3rd Test	Emirates Old Trafford

Parkinson is one of five spinners included in England's 30-man training camp at the Ageas Bowl ahead of the series, which begins on July 8.

"It does spin at Emirates Old Trafford and it is the sort of pitch where they sometimes do play two spinners so that's up to me," he was quoted as saying by a website.

"It's up to me to perform well and stay in 'The X-Factor' judges houses and try to perform well in the nets and the inter-match to try to feature. Fingers crossed when they do cut some players it's not me."

Parkinson, 23, will join the rest of the group at the bio-secure venue near Southampton on Tuesday.

Matt Parkinson (file image)

"Three months ago, I was gutted because I didn't do enough in New Zealand or South Africa with the red-ball to warrant selection and the warm-up games didn't go as well as I would have wanted," he said.

"To have ticked that sort of box in the lead-up to the Test match (in Sri Lanka) it was just nice to be in a bit more of a relaxed position, thinking 'I've actually done OK here'.

"It's one of those things, the more you play the more you get used to the level you're playing at. There probably is a couple of work-ons that I need to do to be successful at that level."