Liam Dawson has been around for England’s finest white-ball moments in the past decade. He was an uncapped inclusion in the 2016 World T20 touring party, when Eoin Morgan’s fresh-faced team were denied right at the end by Carlos Brathwaite’s “remember the name” sixes. He was there as a squad member on that golden day at Lord’s in 2019 and a travelling reserve when England won the T20 World Cup in Australia three years later.
But, remarkably, the 35-year-old is still waiting to make his debut at a global tournament. It has been an international career spent on call, limited to 33 appearances in all formats, his left-arm spin and handy batting there to use in case of emergency.
The next few weeks will be different, Dawson’s drought surely breaking when England begin their T20 World Cup campaign on 8 February against Nepal. He has taken 12 wickets at 19.25 since becoming Adil Rashid’s spin partner in the T20 team in June and conditions in India will demand his presence.
The warm-up is going smoothly, too. In the current series against Sri Lanka in Colombo – marking his return to the ODI team after more than three years out – Dawson has conceded four boundaries in 20 overs and nabbed a couple of wickets.
“On these pitches you just simplify it as a bowler,” he said. “Just try to land the ball in an area and let the pitch do the work.”
It is a compelling story, the supporting act finally getting his big shot as his career winds down. But Dawson, at least when facing the media on Monday, kept his guard up when asked about the prospect of a first World Cup appearance. It was “amazing” to be back in the England setup and that it would be a “really cool occasion if selected to play”.
Asked if he had contemplated the possibility of earning a Test recall this year, he said: “It’s not something I’ve overly thought about. I’ve got the World Cup to focus on first, domestic cricket in England, see how that goes and then see where we end up.”
Jofra Archer has joined up with England’s white-ball squad in Sri Lanka as he continues his preparations for the upcoming T20 World Cup.
The fast bowler is continuing his recovery from a side strain sustained during the Ashes and, while not part of the playing group for the three-match T20 series that begins on Friday in Pallekele, he is in England’s 15-man squad for the tournament that starts next month.
Archer played in the first three Tests of the Ashes, taking a five-wicket haul and hitting a half-century at Adelaide, before he was ruled out of the rest of the series with injury. Only Adil Rashid has taken more T20 wickets for England in the last two years than the 30-year-old.
Phil Salt and Josh Tongue – yet to make his white-ball debut for England – are the other T20 players not part of the ODI squad who have arrived in Sri Lanka. Zak Crawley and Joe Root are only part of the 50-over leg, which concludes with a series decider on Tuesday in Colombo.
Having played against India in the Old Trafford Test last summer, was he expecting to go to the Ashes, a tour he eventually missed out on? “I played that one Test match and you can’t control selection at times, but it’s something I didn’t really overthink. It was enjoyable to play [Test cricket] again.”
Surely, though, he could let us in on his work off-Broadway? Dawson has shone year after year in the shires, his return to international cricket last year preceded by 103 wickets in the County Championship for Hampshire over the 2023 and 2024 seasons. He simply highlighted the helpful pitches in Southampton.
“For those couple of years we had some wickets that we tried to make spin,” he said. “I know I’m accurate enough to exploit those conditions sometimes. That was the main reason I took more wickets than I’d taken before in my career.
“In the years gone by, we’d played on more seamer-friendly wickets at Southampton. It was nothing I did differently, it’s just that conditions suited me a little bit more those two years.”
He was full of answers that all landed roughly in the same area and fairly modest when the reality is this: he has properly earned his place in this England XI, not only through his Championship numbers, but those in the Blast, Hundred and SA20, too.
Before the World Cup, he will have a key role to play on Tuesday, when England face Sri Lanka in the deciding third ODI. The visitors have had a dreadful run in this format, with six series defeats in their past seven, but their 11-match losing run away from home was brought to an end by a five-wicket victory on Saturday. Another ragging pitch surely awaits, Dawson primed for 10 overs of his usual.
