ENGLAND bowling legend Jimmy Anderson has praised his Lancashire teammate Matt Parkinson after the Bolton leg spinner impressed in the recent T20 series win against New Zealand.

The 23-year-old was forced to watch from the sidelines as England got the better of the Black Caps in another Super Over, prevailing by nine runs after a truncated thriller in the fifth T20 in Auckland.

But Burnley-born Anderson is confident that the 23-year-old will get more opportunities with the national team following his 4-47 in Napier which saw him impress on his first appearances for the national side.

“I thought he did himself proud,” said Anderson, who was appearing on BBC Radio 5Live’s Tuffers and Vaughan Show.

“He’s a quality bowler which I’ve seen at Lancashire over the last couple of years both in red-ball and white-ball cricket. I think white-ball cricket is his strength at the minute because of the pace he bowls because I think in red-ball cricket he needs to get a bit more variation in his pace, which will come in time.

“On grounds that don’t necessarily suit spin bowlers he picked up wickets and that is what you want from a T20 spinner and that is why they get picked in the domestic T20 leagues around the world. I thought he did it really well and so hopefully this is just the start of something much bigger for him, especially if he can keep pushing Adil Rashid who has been one of England’s best bowlers in recent times.”

Former Ashes-winning skipper Michael Vaughan agreed with Anderson’s analysis and picked out Parkinson and batsman Tom Banton as two of England’s positives from the series victory.

“You can generally see when a player makes his debut for England if they have the buzz and the real desire to be out there,” said Vaughan. “Some have got it and some look like they’re struggling and shrinking a bit.

“Parkinson didn’t shrink at all and looked like he likes playing the game of cricket. It didn’t matter who he was bowling to. He gave it a bit of air and tried to bamboozle them.”

Attention now turns to England’s first Test against New Zealand which begins on November 21 with Parkinson having bowled 13 wicketless overs in the warm-up match against a New Zealand XI.