Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson has said that there is no guarantee that he would accept an England call-up should he win selection for this winter’s five-Test tour to India.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
Dawson recently enjoyed an outstanding 2023 season, averaging 40 with the bat and taking 49 wickets at 20 in Division One of the County Championship. Even withstanding his excellent contributions with the bat, Dawson was by some distance the leading English spinner in the County Championship this summer and with Moeen Ali once again retired from Test cricket, Dawson is firmly in the frame for a Test recall this winter.
However, there is no guarantee that Dawson will actually accept a potential Test call-up. Dawson, 33, has already been picked up for next year’s SA20 that begins on January 10 and lasts for exactly a month. England’s first Test in India begins in Hyderabad on January 25 with the series finishing in Dharamshala six weeks later on March 11.
Speaking ahead of the 2023 PCA Awards show where Dawson was named the PCA men’s overall domestic MVP for the year, the Hampshire all-rounder explained that accepting a Test recall, given his current winter commitments, would not be an easy decision.
“To be honest, probably no,” replied Dawson when asked whether or not accepting a Test call-up would be straightforward. “I am 33 now. I am very realistic that I am not always going to play for England. At the minute I am going to South Africa but if things change I will have to make a decision.
“The game is changing massively and everybody that is involved in the game understands that. Financially it is something at my age that I will have to consider, that will be a big decision.”
Dawson’s SA20 deal with Sunrisers Eastern Cape is understood to be worth in the region of £150,000 to £200,000 – more than he would earn playing in all five Tests of England’s tour of India where players earn £12,500 per Test on top of a tour fee of around £50,000 to £60,000.
Dawson, recently described by Mark Butcher as a “better and smarter bowler” than Jack Leach, may potentially find himself in a peculiar situation. Aged 33, without a central contract and a fringe England player for the seven years since his international debut, Dawson – as an in-form frontline spinner who can bat in the top seven – may suddenly be viewed as an essential part of England’s plans to win in India on their spin-friendly home pitches. But given the franchise opportunities available to him elsewhere, there is no guarantee that he accepts a potential call-up.
Dawson has also had a strange England career that has involved long stretches on the sidelines carrying drinks, which perhaps adds to his hesitancy in blindly accepting any hypothetical England call-ups that may come his way. He has been part of four England World Cup touring groups – either as a squad member or a travelling reserve – without ever playing a World Cup match, and has represented England in just 17 limited overs matches since his 2016 debut. The left-arm spinning all-rounder has also played three Tests – one in India in 2016, and two at home against South Africa the following summer – but always in a two or three-man spin attack.
While his domestic form arguably demands national recognition, Dawson himself isn’t losing sleep about whether or not a recall is coming his way.
“When you’re younger, everyone understands that you’re so desperate to play for England,” said Dawson. “Adding that pressure probably isn’t a good thing and that’s something that I’ve dealt with over the last few years. I’m older now, I’ve played a lot more cricket and I just want to enjoy my cricket. I don’t want to worry about playing for England, I want to enjoy playing cricket and that’s the reason that you play the game.
“That’s the ambition isn’t it? To go and play for England. When you’re young and you’re desperate to do that, that’s right. But for me, now I’m older, more experienced, [there are] a lot of franchise leagues and just by playing cricket I know that if you’re always striving to do as best as you can and then play for England, sometimes that isn‘t the best for your game. I’m very at peace with where I am and yeah, I enjoy it.”
