Liam Dawson lacks glamour but his craftiness is bad news for Shoaib Bashir

Telegraph

6 days ago

Liam Dawson's seventh ball in Test cricket, after eight years away, drifted in the air and then landed on an immaculate line outside Yashasvi Jaiswal's off stump. The left-hander then shaped forward to defend, only to be deceived by the turn: there wasn't too much but too little.
Jaiswal had expected the ball to turn back into him, as is customary from a left-arm orthodox spinner's angle. Had Dawson spun the ball accordingly, his delivery would have met the middle of Jaiswal's bat. Instead, the lack of turn was the difference between the middle and an edge. It felt like a very apt way for Dawson to mark his Test return.
Dawson is not the ostentatious sort. But after Harry Brook completed a routine catch at slip on the first day of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Dawson raised his left hand in celebration, leapt away in joy and punched the air, revelling in a moment that he never thought would come. After 102 matches away, Dawson finally had his eighth Test-match wicket.
Liam Dawson takes his FIRST Test wicket in eight years! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🙌 pic.twitter.com/mvZH9A8OMM
— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) July 23, 2025
Merely to recount the list of spinners that England have deployed in the meantime is disorientating. England have selected, by the best count, 12 spinners ahead of Dawson since his last Test-match appearance.
The list includes Will Jacks, Liam Livingstone and even Joe Root, who have all been picked as frontline spinners on occasion. When England last toured India, at the start of last year, they picked Shoaib Bashir, who had 10 first-class wickets at an average of 67, and Tom Hartley, who had 40 first-class wickets at an average of 36.6. Dawson, fresh from taking 49 wickets at 20, was not even in England's squad. Soon after, Dawson described a return to Test cricket as 'completely off the radar'.
To anyone who has observed him thriving, both for Hampshire and in franchise cricket around the world, Dawson's long exile has been bewildering. Over the last three years, he has a strong claim to being the leading domestic cricketer in the country. Since 2023, Dawson has taken 124 County Championship wickets at 25.6, while scoring seven centuries and averaging 47.6 with the bat.
But Dawson's return to white-ball cricket, for the T20 series against West Indies earlier this summer, indicated a shift in England's thinking. Taking four for 20 in his first game back suggested that England had been too shy to recognise Dawson's qualities in recent years, even if he is not the sort to make the point.
In part, Dawson's exile was of his own accord. Two years ago, he rejected a call-up for a limited-overs tour of Bangladesh. Ahead of the Test series in India in 2024, Dawson intimated that he was only happy to tour if he was certain to play. Then again, Dawson could reasonably claim to have run more than enough drinks over his international career.
From 2016-22, he was almost perennially in England's squads, especially in the white-ball forms, but played just 20 international matches. Dawson was part of the triumphant squads in both the 2019 ODI World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup (albeit on standby) yet never actually made the starting 11. He was told to ready himself to go to India, for the 2023 ODI World Cup, but was then not picked in the squad.
For all Dawson's reliability, England were more enamoured with younger, and more glamorous alternatives. Rehan Ahmed, England's youngest ever Test debutant, was admired for his wrist spin and flair. Hartley, a left-arm spinner like Dawson, was picked for his raw attributes – his high release point, and his pace. So was Bashir, who was particularly admired for his 6ft 4in height, standing eight inches taller than Dawson.
Bashir was picked by England in part because social media footage two years ago showed him ripping the ball away from Alastair Cook's edge. Dawson's value is best understood less through his highlights than his cumulative work. His relentless accuracy and mastery of length compels batsman to push forward, again and again. And, as Jaiswal could attest, Dawson's non-turning delivery can be as venomous as the ball that spins in the classical manner.
Dawson's early jubilation was a little deceptive. Instead, he rapidly settled into the role envisaged of a spinner on the opening day in England.
'I've done nothing special there,' Dawson said, with his characteristic dryness, after play. But during 15 overs, Dawson showed his craftiness to contain, conceding exactly three runs an over – 0.8 runs less than Bashir's economy rate in Test cricket.
On a largely unresponsive wicket, Dawson had to call upon his white-ball wiles. He switched happily between bowling over and around the wicket to India's left-handers, varying his release point on the crease and his speed.
This ease bowling to left-handers might yet be significant in England's medium-term thinking. As an off-spinner, Bashir's greatest threat is against left-handers, of whom Australia have three in their top seven. But as Dawson first dismissed Jaiswal, and then contained Rishabh Pant, it showed his aptitude for bowling to lefties too, which complements his greater threat than Bashir against right-handers.
With Bashir, Ben Stokes is accustomed to playing a strikingly active role as captain, shuffling the off-spinner's field incessantly. But with Dawson, 14 years Bashir's senior, Stokes had no need for such proactivity; Dawson took far greater command over his own field.
Yet the greatest contrast between Dawson and the man he has replaced is not with the ball. Instead, it lies in the field – Bashir is a middling fielder, Dawson an exceptional one – and with the bat. With a first-class average of 35.3, Dawson gives England enviable depth at number eight; this is particularly attractive at a time when both the Dukes and Kookaburra balls are offering scant assistance later in the innings.
Before Old Trafford, Dawson was seen as a simple 'plug-and-play' option, England assistant coach Jeetan Patel said before this game. But the start to Dawson's Test return hinted that a pragmatic selection could yet have major repercussions for England.