Liam Dawson to make England Test return in place of injured Shoaib Bashir
The 35-year-old played the last of his three Tests in July 2017, but he has been a star performer on the County Championship circuit with Hampshire and amassed 49 wickets in 2023 and a further 53 in 2024.
He had drifted out of England's red and white-ball contention in recent years, but Bashir breaking a finger on his non-bowling hand in the 22-run win at Lord's last week opened the door for Dawson.
England have now confirmed their XI, as is now customary, two days out from the fourth Test and Dawson coming in for Bashir is the only change, with Chris Woakes, Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse retained.
As well as being a shrewd left-arm spinner, Dawson, who returned to England's T20 side in their win over the West Indies last month, has 18 first-class hundreds and is a renowned as a fine fielder.
Harry Brook said: '(Dawson) is a wily, old fox, very experienced and a very skilful cricketer. He's played everywhere, played against everyone so hopefully he can have an amazing performance this week.
'He's willing to always fight for the team, he's very competitive and it's good to have him here.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
15 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Oasis-style ticketing and expendable fans: the battle to retain football's soul
'I'm a bit younger, so this is all I've known,' says Nick Clarke, 'but something that defines this moment is the feeling that it's our last chance. You know that phrase: 'The game's gone'? I think the game is genuinely going away. It's excluding traditional supporters and the communities that built the clubs in the first place.' Clarke has just celebrated his 30th birthday and is coming off the back of a big season. As one of the four season-ticket holders behind the MCFC Fans Foodbank Support, Clarke has been active among the Manchester City fanbase and in the community since the pandemic. With the growing concern over the pricing and provision of tickets at his club last year, he helped coordinate protests by fans whose rivalries go back generations, but whose problems are increasingly shared. Supporters of Everton, Liverpool and Manchester United and others joined City fans under the banner 'Stop Exploiting Loyalty' and in doing so became part of a new wave of supporter activism. 'I know there's all these things about multi-club ownership, private and state ownership, playing games abroad, accusations of killing the soul of the game,' Clarke says. 'But, really, what is the game? It's the communities that go to it, it's the communities that have made the clubs who they are, going back four, five, six generations till their very inception. 'The wider football supporter community are only just now cottoning on that we have so much more in common and if we don't stand together the game is going to be gone before we know it. That's all we have to do and all we can do. We just need to really keep up that momentum.' It already seems there will be reason for fans to take a stand once more this season. It is not the first time they will have come together to demand change, but for those with clubs at the top of the pyramid there is a sense the ground is shifting and the needs of fans is becoming an afterthought, if not an outright problem. At the heart is a concern that clubs want to move away from having matches filled with season-ticket holders towards something more casual, and more lucrative. Imagine every Premier League fixture becoming more like an Oasis gig, for ever. 'The problems are different at different levels of the game,' says Tom Greatrex, the new chair of the Football Supporters' Association, who drove the Stop Exploiting Loyalty campaign. 'In the Premier League, and at the top of the Championship, Stop Exploiting Loyalty has helped to bring to the fore a set of issues that have been developing over a period of time. 'We are seeing that parts of clubs' fanbases, which have traditionally been loyal and go home and away, are now almost expendable to not all, but many of the people that currently run a number of those clubs. It's gone beyond exploitation to expendability.' Fans are suffering rises in ticket prices, the lowering or ending of ticket concessions and initiatives that require season-ticket holders to attend a certain number of games each season or risk losing their place, as examples of this trend. According to Greatrex, the effects are being felt in some grounds. 'The number of people who are there almost to experience something which they're not necessarily part of has tipped into a significant proportion to the extent that it undermines the thing they're going there to experience,' he says. 'There is a real danger that in a short-term push for increased revenue from matchday tickets and associated spend that clubs are in danger of actually undermining the whole 'product' they're so proud of.' One topic that crystallises the anxiety over expendability is that of matches being selected for TV. There will be more televised games than ever this season, with Sky showing a minimum 215 Premier League fixtures. With each televised match comes possible rescheduling and a potentially challenging (or even impossible) journey for fans. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion 'There can be very very short-notice changes, which make it very difficult for people to be able to attend those matches. I don't think there's been enough focus on things that could be done to mitigate some of the frustration that comes from those changes.' The FSA has called for a 12-week notice period on fixture rearrangements, the provision of more 'football special' trains and the extension of the £30 cap on away tickets into the EFL. The Premier League has committed to giving six weeks' notice of fixture adjustments on all matches until January, but last month had to apologise after failing to meet its own deadline of announcing all September adjustments by 9 July. It is striking that the mood among fans is so febrile at the time the government has passed legislation designed, in part, to give supporters more influence over their clubs. Fan consultation is a central requirement of the new Independent Football Regulator for the English men's elite game and legislation is, in part, the result of long-term campaigning by the FSA. It is not a panacea and its influence is unlikely to take hold for some seasons yet, but Greatrex, a former Labour MP, believes it can form a platform for better understanding between fans, clubs and competitions. 'More than ever, there is an appreciation – among some, it's reluctant, but among others, it's embraced – that supporters have a legitimate voice that deserves to be heard and their views to be considered,' he says. '[The regulator] is actually the basis for a much more constructive approach, which means that if clubs are sensible you can prevent a lot of the flashpoints getting to the point at which they become high profile, because you've dealt with it sensibly ahead of that time.' Clarke would much rather have dialogue than protest. 'I don't want to be doing another protest all my life,' he says. 'I know there's no easy answers but a lot of this protest energy has come because people feel they're not being listened to. That's where the anger comes from.'
BBC News
15 minutes ago
- BBC News
Arsenal 2-3 Villarreal - send us your thoughts
Arsenal suffered a 3-2 friendly defeat by Villarreal at Emirates Stadium on Wednesday as Viktor Gyokeres made his first start for the Gunners and 15-year-old Max Dowman Pepe put the La Liga side ahead - refusing to celebrate against his former club - before Etta Eyong's close-range effort doubled the Norgaard got his first goal in Arsenal colours before half-time, but then Arnaut Danjuma broke away to stretch the visitors' advantage again.A Martin Odegaard penalty - won by Dowman - completed the did you learn from Arsenal's penultimate pre-season friendly?Get in touch with your views here
The Guardian
15 minutes ago
- The Guardian
England's Chris Woakes: ‘It's not the way you want to be front-page news'
'I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I didn't try,' says Chris Woakes, just 48 hours after he walked out to a standing ovation at the Oval, left arm in a sling, bat in hand, ready to push through the agony of a dislocated shoulder to get England the win. It may have been thwarted, with India victorious by a slim six runs to bring one of the most thrilling series in recent times to an end in a 2-2 draw. But the selfless act of crossing the boundary with a potentially career‑threatening injury meant Woakes entered cricketing folklore – echoing Colin Cowdrey in 1963, Paul Terry and Malcolm Marshall in 1984, and Rishabh Pant at Old Trafford just a week earlier. 'I don't know what it is,' Woakes says, back home in Birmingham and awaiting further scans on the injury. 'You just know you're part of something bigger. It's not just you that you're playing for out there. It's your team and your teammates, all the hard work and the sacrifices they put in, the people watching at home and in the ground. You just feel a duty to do it for everyone.' That sense of duty led to the 36‑year‑old seamer instantly being hailed as a national hero, with praise from around the world and the image of England's one-armed batsman making front-page news. For Woakes, there is a mixture of pride and frustration, the team having been within touching distance of a monumental chase of 374 runs and a 3-1 series win. 'I'm still gutted, devastated really, that we couldn't get the fairytale. But I never considered not going out there, even if it had been 100 runs still to win or whatever. It was nice to have the ovation and some of the Indian players came over to show their respect. But any other player would have done the same. You couldn't just call it off at nine wickets down.' Going out to bat with 17 runs required, Woakes did not have to face a delivery before Gus Atkinson was bowled by the irrepressible Mohammed Siraj to end a dramatic match. But simply running his partner's runs – something he had not factored in when trying to work out how he might bat – was unbearable, occurring four times. 'The first one was the worst,' he says. 'All I had taken was codeine and it was just so sore. Instinct took over here – even with my arm strapped down I tried to run as you naturally do. I genuinely worried my shoulder had popped back out again, hence you saw me throw my helmet off, rip the glove off with my teeth, and check it was OK.' It was a serious injury, no question, sustained on the first evening of the series decider when Woakes – the only England seamer to play all five Tests – went to chase down a ball that was running to the boundary, only to land awkwardly as he flicked it back. A run was indeed saved but the cost far outstripped it. 'We chase down every run,' Woakes explains. 'That has always been the way. As a bowler, you really respect guys trying to save every run. It means a lot to you. So you kind of do the same for the team. And a tight game like that one – just six runs the difference – kinda shows how they all add up. 'The outfield was wet from the rain, almost greasy, and my hand slipped as I landed and my full body weight went through my shoulder. I heard a pop and knew I was in trouble. 'The pain came on pretty quickly and my arm was just hanging there. It was grim and my thoughts were racing. 'Is it game over? Is it career done?' It was a horrible place to be. We got it into a makeshift sling with my jumper and got off the field.' What followed sounds utterly excruciating, with Anita Biswas, the England team doctor, and Ben Davies, the physiotherapist, spending the next 30 minutes in the dressing room trying to get the shoulder back in place. Woakes recalls: 'It is a horrible feeling, your shoulder not where it should be and worrying it might never get back in. It felt like three hours but the medical staff were amazing. 'I had this vape pen thing which tasted rank but took the edge off, pain-wise. First we tried me lying flat on my front on the bench and letting the arm hang down to do it. But the pain was too much to get into position. 'In the end it was just a case of lying on my back and Anita gradually straightening my arm and trying that way. We thought we had it in with a 'clunk' but then my pectoral muscle spasmed and rejected it. That was horrendous. Another 10 minutes or so, with her knee in my armpit, there was another 'clunk' and it was back it properly. It hurt but there was such a feeling of relief with it, too.' Woakes went to A&E at St George's hospital in Tooting that evening for an X-ray to confirm there was no break, before returning to his wife, Amie, and their two young children at the team hotel. Needless to say, going to sleep that night was close to impossible but he reported back at the Oval the following morning. It was during England's first innings that day, at four wickets down, when Woakes first approached Brendon McCullum to say he would be prepared to go out to bat if called upon. 'No chance, boss,' came the reply from the head coach. 'Park up and we'll see where we get to later in the match.' Set a huge target in the fourth innings, it was clear Woakes might well be called upon and so preparation to bat one-handed began on day four in the indoor school with Marcus Trescothick, the assistant coach. The first instinct was to attempt an orthodox stance, both hands on the bat, and see how it felt. The answer? Not good. 'I defended one normally and, oh mate, it was agony. So yeah, we soon worked out that a left‑hander's stance would shield the shoulder and at least allow me to sort of block with my top hand in control. I hit a few, missed a few, but it felt like the only way to survive.' Sign up to The Spin Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week's action after newsletter promotion And so at 11.40am on Monday, Woakes walked out to the middle wearing Jacob Bethell's left‑hander's thigh guard and, in the absence of an oversized arm guard, a couple of smaller ones borrowed from Joe Root and Ollie Pope. He was helped into his whites by Davies, while Ben Stokes strapped on his pads for him. Typical of the man, Woakes says he worried about being a 'pain in the arse' here. 'It was bittersweet in the end,' he says of the fact that he did not face a ball. 'Part of me wondered what it might be like, to see if I could have defended the ball, seen out an over maybe, squeezed a run or carved a four. 'But the other side of it was: 'Thank God I didn't face a 90mph bouncer, one-handed, facing the wrong way around.' And I knew I was going to have to wear a few bouncers if I did get on strike. Those were the anxious feelings, really. You're still pretty exposed out there.' Like Stokes bowling toe‑hunting yorkers to Pant at Old Trafford, despite the India wicketkeeper having a broken foot, any short balls aimed at Woakes would have been fair game – the brutal, uncompromising side of a sport that, bar concussion, does not do substitutions. Stokes himself has said he does not think a rule permitting them should come in. While the series was a powder keg, with running verbals throughout, the scenes at the end showed the respect underpinning it all. Shubman Gill, India's captain, made a point of stopping to commend Woakes after the match, as did pretty much his entire team. Pant, whose foot had been broken by Woakes during the fourth Test, was back in India but the pair have since swapped messages. 'Shubman said something like: 'That was incredibly brave,'' Woakes says. 'I told him: 'You've had an unbelievable series, well played, and credit to your team.' Both sets of players had been through the mill in the series and deserve credit for the show we put on. Both teams wanted the win, of course, but it does kind of feel fair that it was drawn. 'I saw Rishabh [Pant] had put an image of me on Instagram with a salute emoji, so I replied thanking him: 'Appreciate the love and hope the foot is OK,' etc. He then sent me a voice note saying: 'I hope all is OK, good luck with the recovery and I hope we meet again out there some day.' I obviously said sorry for the broken foot.' The time since has been a whirlwind of emotions for Woakes and, with him seeing a specialist this week and a full prognosis to follow, any questions about what lies ahead would be wrong. There are a couple of final queries, though: first, having gone through this ordeal, does he think Test cricket should have substitutions? Woakes replies: 'I'm with Stokesy, to be honest. Having played for 18 years, the game is what it is: you lose a player and as a team you have to find a way. It makes you more resilient and the team stronger. I do understand why people might think it's needed for freak injuries like mine but there would be too many grey areas or loopholes.' And being hailed as a hero? 'I mean, it's not the way you want to be front-page news – you'd sooner it was for five wickets or a century. There have been a lot of ups and downs since but yeah, the love from the public has helped. 'It is so weird to go from the start of a Test week, thinking 'one last push', to ending up on a physio's table wondering what the future holds.' Whatever that is – whether that was indeed one last act of selflessness in an England career that has been built on it – the world will be wishing him well.
