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 |
| Full Name |
Luke Procter |
| Nickname |
Proccy |
| DoB |
24th June 1988 |
| Height |
5' 11 |
| Bats/Bowls |
Left-hand bat/Right-arm medium |
| Shirt Number |
2 |
| Lancashire |
Academy 2007, Scholarship 2008. Debut 2009 (One-day) 2010 (first-class) |
| Tests |
0 |
| ODI |
0 |
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| Profile |
Despite still being in the fledgling stages of a professional career, Luke Procter is fast becoming an all-rounder to be reckoned with. A fast-medium paced bowler, he is also a left-handed batsman who tried his hand as an opening batsman towards the end of the 2012 summer with some degree of success.
With loss of form and injury hitting Peter Moores’ plans, he threw Procter in at the deep end during an LV= County Championship match against Worcestershire towards the end of August after returning from nearly two months out with a torn side muscle.
And despite only scoring 16, he showed enough signs of promise during a 50-ball stay at the crease to keep his place for the last three matches of the season, in which he scored 30 against Middlesex at Lord’s and 36 against Surrey at Liverpool.
He admitted at the end of the campaign that he is keen to keep his place at the top of the order rather than moving back down it. He is preparing for the 2013 summer with a winter of grade cricket in Perth.
Procter started the 2011 campaign - his second as a professional - with the aim of trying to cement his place in Lancashire's limited overs teams, accepting that anything else he achieved would be a bonus.
He ended it with 366 runs and nine wickets to his name from seven Championship matches, top of the club's four-day batting averages and with a medal around his neck.
Procter scored fifties against Sussex at Hove during his first appearance of the campaign - he converted it into a career best 89 - and Durham at Liverpool, while adding a number of other valuable contributions. He finished with an average of 40.66.
He also outfoxed batsmen with his whippy bowling action and extra pace, claiming 3-33 against Warwickshire at Edgbaston, prospering as the third seamer in the attack by getting out Mohammad Yousuf, the prolific Pakistani batsman.
In terms of one-day cricket, by and large, Procter achieved his pre-season goal. He played in nine of the 12 Clydesdale Bank 40 matches and in 15 out of 18 Friends Life t20 matches.
Procter signed professional terms at Old Trafford ahead of the 2010 summer, making his Championship debut against Warwickshire at Edgbaston later in that season as a substitute for Jimmy Anderson.
Anderson was still in the air on the way back from the World Twenty20 competition in the West Indies when the clash started, but was desperate to play in a bid to get some valuable game time in ahead of the home Tests.
It was quite ironic, therefore, that Anderson was in the side a year later alongside Procter at Edgbaston, praising the now 24-year-old for his impressive bowling display.
Procter's first full Championship match came at the end of the 2010 when the Red Rose travelled to Taunton, and he scored a classy 32 against runners up Somerset.
Only a few days before that, he had scored a brilliant 64 not out to help a young Lightning side clinch an impressive CB40 win over Worcestershire at Liverpool. Earlier in the summer, he had scored a career best 97 against the West Indies A in a 50-over friendly at Old Trafford.
He was selected for the club's academy in 2007 before being offered a scholarship deal in 2009.
The club's assistant coach Gary Yates described his batting style as "a mix between Neil Fairbrother and Darren Lehmann."
Yates continued: "He is quite wristy and works the ball into the gaps well. His initial ambitions should be to cement a position in the middle order in the one-day side, although he is more than capable of doing it in the Championship too."
Despite his side problem in 2012, which was suffered midway through Twenty20, he was able to play 13 Championship matches and 14 first-class matches in all. He scored 491 runs, including 77 in the season-opening champion county fixture against the MCC in Abu Dhabi, and took 28 wickets.
He claimed a best of 7-71 from 19.1 overs in the aforementioned match against Surrey, including two wickets in an over twice.
Graham Hardcastle
(c) Lancashire CCC Ltd
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