Liam Dawson will win his fourth Test cap against India this week, 14 months on from admitting, ‘I’m probably done’ with an England career.
Dawson, 35, has not appeared at Test level for eight years, and told Mail Sport last May that he was prioritising winning trophies with Hampshire rather than settling for being the oldest drinks waiter on cricket’s international circuit.
However, Shoaib Bashir’s broken little finger has presented an opportunity for the slow left-armer to back up the belief of his county peers that he is in the form of his life, and is a far superior bowler to the one selected between December 2016 and July 2017.
Back then, he was yet to take 30 first-class wickets in a season, and could only dream of the kind of County Championship returns — 49 in 2023 and 53 in 2024 — that contributed to him being named domestic cricket’s most valuable player two years in a row.
Last October, after also averaging 60 with the bat, he was voted the Professional Cricketers’ Association’s player of the year. Even though this three-year-old England regime have placed little value on domestic statistics, it was hard to ignore Dawson’s improvement in performance.
It is commonplace for spinners to hit career peaks in their 30s, as Graeme Swann, England’s best of the modern era, did earlier this century, but Dawson’s surge has also been influenced by another Graeme.
Liam Dawson is primed for his return to England’s Test side for the fourth Test against India
Should he play as expected, he would win his fourth Test cap eight years after his third
His involvement comes after Shoaib Bashir broke his finger during the third Test at Lord’s
Since Graeme Welch arrived as Hampshire’s bowling coach in 2022, Dawson has taken 148 first-class wickets at an average of 26.1. Up until the age of 32, his 223 victims had come at 35.2. Ten of his 14 five-wicket hauls have come since the start of the 2023 season.
So, what has changed? Primarily, his wrist position. It is now cocked back further, which allows him to impart a greater amount of spin on the ball, and coincides with a change of mindset. Previously, Hampshire used him in a holding role, but he has been transformed into an attacking weapon.
It aligns with England captain Ben Stokes’ belief that bowlers should always be looking to get opposition batsmen out.
‘When Pop Welch came to Hampshire, Daws had his own way of bowling,’ said team-mate Keith Barker.
‘He was always our frontline spinner, but he probably didn’t get the wickets he wanted. He’s got a wicket-taking mentality now. He gives a little bit more flight on the ball which obviously helps in that regard.
‘When I arrived six years ago, I think he saw his job as trying to keep the run-rate down. Whereas now, he’s disappointed if he doesn’t bowl as well or take as many wickets as he would like.’
Although it was in a different format of the game, Dawson’s willingness to give the ball air and deceive opponents in the flight stood out on his recall for the Twenty20 series against West Indies earlier this summer.
England appear welded to Bashir as their No 1 spinner, and at 35 Dawson is not a long-term threat, suggesting that his best hope of going to Australia this winter is as one of the reserves.
It is the latest surprise selection chosen by England coach Brendon McCullum
Under Brendon McCullum and Stokes, however, a frontline spinner has always been selected in Test XIs, meaning that he should feature in Manchester from Wednesday and at The Oval later this month.
One alternative selection would be to gamble on Jacob Bethell’s left-arm spin and lengthen the batting, but that would go against McCullum’s recent assertion that Bethell was in the squad as a top-order player.
Not that he is in any touch, after trekking around the first three Test venues.
In the 40 days since slamming an unbeaten 36 off 16 deliveries sent down by West Indies’ bowlers in Southampton on June 10, Bethell has played just one first-class match — a Kookaburra-ball bore draw with Somerset at Edgbaston — plus three Twenty20 fixtures.
Dawson will join a series that became increasingly tetchy last week as England went 2-1 up at Lord’s, but which nevertheless remains cordial away from the heat of the battle.
On-field relations turned sour when the Indians converged on Zak Crawley, following delaying tactics at the end of day three. Opening partner Ben Duckett stepped in amid a flurry of abuse and finger-wagging led by India captain Shubman Gill.
Later that evening, in the home dressing room, it was decided that England would not stand for individuals being targeted in such a manner and adopted a pack mentality in response, leading to various send-offs to India’s batsmen on the final morning, including one from Jofra Archer to Rishabh Pant after cart-wheeling his off stump.
