Nathan Sowter is one of the few English wrist-spinners commanding a regular starting berth in The Hundred – does an England call-up beckon?
If England are looking for new faces at the start of a new era of white-ball cricket, there is one player whose statistical case for inclusion really stands out.
In T20 (including Hundred) cricket played in England since the start of 2022, the Australian-born but England-qualified Nathan Sowter has more wickets than any other spinner. With 67 wickets at 17.38 – and an economy rate of 7.22 – in that period, Sowter’s numbers are by some distance the most compelling in the domestic game. Of the 50 leading wicket-takers in England over the past three seasons, he has the second-best average (behind only Matt Henry) and the third-best economy (behind Sunil Narine and Dan Mousley).
Sowter is a wicket-taker who keeps a lid on run-scoring – it’s an elite combination that is serving him well. An ever-present for the Oval Invincibles as they look to go back-to-back in The Hundred and the fulcrum of the Durham attack heading to south London for a T20 Blast quarter-final, Sowter is a key player in the business end of the domestic limited overs summer.
It is a remarkable change in fortune for Sowter. In May 2022, aged 29, he was informed that Middlesex would not be renewing his contract for the following season. Then came a lifeline in the form of a loan deal to Durham where he fared reasonably across seven fixtures as they finished second-bottom of the North Group. But following the loan, there was no serious indication that Sowter’s loan move would be made permanent. As Sowter packed his kit following a second XI fixture in Billericay at the end of the summer, he thought his professional career was over.
“I thought I was done,” says Sowter. “I was in a bit of shock. I got told [about the release] just before the Blast – at that stage I thought they were going to let me play to give me a shop window to go get a move, considering I had been one of their better white-ball bowlers in recent times but they went in other directions quite quickly which caught me a bit off guard.”
After the loan spell with Durham, Sowter returned to the Invincibles for the second season in a row, playing in their final three games of their campaign. “I went, okay [economy of 7.05 rpo] but didn't get a wicket and I was a bit like, ‘Oh, this could be the end.’”
For the second time in the year, Durham came ringing. This time, director of cricket Marcus North offered a permanent contract albeit one with the warning that at 30, chances were running out for Sowter. “I thought I'd give it another crack,” says Sowter. “He was pretty honest with me at the time. He was like, ‘You're 30 years old, if you don't perform now you're done.’ I think that might have made me want to give him a bit of a ‘I'll show you.’
Since then, Sowter’s Durham numbers are absurd. From the moment he put pen to paper on his permanent contract, he has taken 49 wickets at 14.81 for his new county at an economy rate of 6.55.
It’s a good time to be at Chester-le-Street; Durham are naked in their ambition and have been one of the more proactive recruiters in recent times, securing the services not only of Sowter, but of Ollie Robinson, Callum Parkinson and Emilio Gay. They have been accommodating of Sowter’s life situation, allowing him to remain in London to support his fiance’s career down south. Sowter credits the Durham environment for some of his success.
“It feels like it's you against the rest of the country,” Sowter explains. “And I think people just like a bit of freedom, they like the space. It's like you just run your own race, if that makes sense. We have that freedom and that belief that we're going in one direction as a club, and we're trying to be the best club in England. We're trying to replicate something like Surrey does. We might not get there this year. We might not get there next year, but I feel like the people in charge up there are really pushing the club in the right direction.”
Though a member of the Invincibles squad since the first season of The Hundred, Sowter only established himself as a key part of the XI in 2023 – the year he joined Durham on a permanent basis. Last season, he played every game as Oval became champions for the first time, taking a wicket and an outstanding boundary catch in the final.
In 2024, Sowter is once more a key cog of the Oval machine and one of just a handful of English wrist-spinners commanding a berth in a Hundred side. In a team full of either established internationals or young players set on the national pathway, Sowter is an unlikely fit but it works well, especially when bowling in tandem with Adam Zampa.
“I try to keep it as simple as possible, really – just keep the stumps in play,” says Sowter. “And then obviously, if we need to, go a bit fuller if the wicket allows that. The other night [against Welsh Fire] me and Zamps [Adam Zampa] probably both bowled a drag down each. Mine went to deep square [to dismiss Glenn Phillips], and his went for four.”
His partnership with Zampa, a leg-spinner with a similar profile to Sowter but arguably the second best T20 wrist-spinner in the world, is intriguing. It brings Sowter different challenges, but ones that he enjoys.
“If they need to target someone, especially in our bowling line-up with me being the only player that hasn't played international cricket, they're looking at me to target. I think the confidence that he shows and just the belief in his own bowling has rubbed off a little bit on me. It's just been believing in your bowling and owning that space that you've got. I think he does that so well. I love watching his aura and how he steps up to the plate when the big moment comes. I think that's really helped me.”
Whether or not Sowter’s run with the white-ball ends in international honours, it has been a remarkable turn in circumstance. Even now, he is philosophical about what the future may hold. “I've got that realisation that I'm probably not an Adam Zampa or Sam Curran who could probably finish cricket and not have to work again. I've got that feeling that, you know what, this is good. I get to play in front of a few full houses, and at the end of the day, I'll probably have to go cut some grass or clean the toilet. So yeah, I think for me, it's just about enjoying it.”
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