Dan Lawrence has spent a winter in the sunshine, embracing his freedom from touring as a spare bat for the England Test team to fill his pockets on the franchise circuit - currently in Dubai in the ILT20. But beyond that is a continued dream to return to top-flight international cricket, which took a serious hit over the summer.
The last time England fans will have seen Lawrence was walking off, head bowed, after getting out at The Oval in his final Test innings of the summer in September. With a string of low scores behind him, Lawrence played frenetically in the gloom after early wickets went down. The final image of that knock was Lawrence well out of his crease, having skipped down the pitch to launch Lahiru Kumara down the ground, only to nick off to Dinesh Chandimal behind the stumps. Following that innings, Lawrence had a frank conversation with Brendon McCullum over what his failures in the series had done to his England ambitions.
“I did have a conversation with Baz,” Lawrence says. “We had a very honest discussion on how my summer went. It obviously didn’t go as well as I would have liked, and Baz just said it’s definitely not the end and to keep working hard and see where I am in the next 12-18 months.
“I think the style of player that I am, it’s always going to look a little bit unique when I get out in certain ways. If anything, I might have taken on the game a little more and not put quite so much pressure on myself, and it’s quite difficult to do that when you’re walking out to bat for England. So no, I wouldn’t have changed too much, I just would have liked to score a few more runs.”
Lawrence’s call-up to England’s Test side last summer came two years after his last appearance, having spent much of the intervening period touring with the side, poised to step in wherever required. An injury to Zak Crawley meant his opportunity came at the top of the order, a position he had little experience in.
"Against a relatively benign opposition, Lawrence has struggled, far from the audacious swashbuckler we’ve seen in past glimpses in an England shirt."
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) September 7, 2024
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Dan Lawrence's opening struggles could push him below where he started ⬇️https://t.co/t6Cxnrsnd5#ENGvSL pic.twitter.com/09EW8EGH3v
After that innings at The Oval, which left his average for the series at 20, his status as next cab off the rank took several steps down. Over the winter, England selected Jordan Cox and Jacob Bethell ahead of him for their series in Pakistan and in New Zealand.
“It was a pretty tricky couple of weeks,” Lawrence reflects on the end of last summer. “Obviously I loved playing for England again and it was great fun in a fantastic group of lads, but I understood that I didn’t score the runs that I needed to, which is obviously pretty hard to take at the time.
“All I can do now for Surrey is knock down the door and score as many runs as I possibly can, and really try to enhance my off-spin bowling as well because that obviously helps in getting selected in a lot of teams.”
While his international ambitions remain unchanged, a winter freed up from England tours has left Lawrence free to make the most of the high demand he’s in on the franchise circuit. The ILT20 is his final assignment of a busy few months, in which he has also played in the Abu Dhabi T10 and the BBL. Each of those leagues offers a different dynamic, from the rapid pace of 10-over contests to the hard, bouncy surfaces in Australia. In the ILT20, Lawrence is quick to reference the calibre of his individual teammates and opposition.
“It’s incredible,” he says. “With nine overseas players in each team, the standard of cricket is as good as I think you’re going to play. If you look down the list of every team, there’s a world-class player in every single one. We’re off to a rollocking start at the Vipers and we’ve got an unbelievably well-balanced side.”
Desert Vipers currently sit at the top of the ILT20 table and are four points clear of second-placed Dubai Capitals. The tournament is nearing its knockout stage, which viewers can tune into from next week (February 5).
Vipers’ success is in part down to Lawrence, who scored 70 off 39 balls in their opening fixture, with his next best score a 32-ball 49 against Abu Dhabi Knight Riders.
“I'm in a pretty good place with my T20 batting,” says Lawrence. “At the moment it’s something that I am really trying to push. Obviously I’m realising in the next few years there are going to be more opportunities for me so I'm going to really, really enhance my T20 game and thankfully I’ve got off to a nice start in this competition.”
Questions over England players' future participation in franchise leagues has been a sore topic this winter in light of the ECB’s changes to their No Objection Certificate policy. English players with domestic red-ball contracts will no longer be able to play in leagues which clash with the home summer, with the notable exception of the IPL. The policy change has led to former England batter and Hampshire captain James Vince giving up his red-ball contract for 2025 in favour of playing in the PSL.
While Lawrence, still in his mid-20s and with much more recent England credentials, is in a different position to Vince, he’s sympathetic to the dilemma. “I can understand that the ECB want to protect the integrity of the game, I do understand that,” he says. “But I always sympathise with the players who can only play for 10, 15 years and you do have to maximise your earnings… It’s a very tricky situation at the moment, and I’m not sure there is a correct answer.”
Lawrence was contracted to Lahore Qalandars in last year’s PSL but did not play a game. He didn’t enter the auction for the competition this year and plans to keep his pivotal role in Surrey’s all-conquering Championship side. Last year, Surrey’s outgoing director of cricket Alec Stewart was vocal about the need for franchise players’ relationship with their counties to change, with frustrations building over the number of players unavailable to play domestic competitions due to franchise commitments, or injuries picked up while fulfilling them.
“I’m contracted to Surrey and ultimately that is my number one priority,” Lawrence says. “I’m part of a potentially record-winning side at Surrey and it’s an amazing opportunity to play for that side. So first and foremost that’s my commitment to them and when I do have free time, thankfully they allow me to play some franchise stuff.”
When he wraps up in Dubai, Lawrence will have less than two months back in England before the beginning of the County Championship. After a winter spent in the Southern hemisphere and coming back from Dubai, he’ll be back at his boyhood club for Surrey’s first fixture against Essex on April 4.
“Essex will always hold a special place in my heart,” says Lawrence. “I really, dearly love that club but I felt that where I was in my career I needed a bit of a change and I wanted to experience playing for, in my opinion, the best club in the country and I think a lot of cricketers would agree with me.
“We’ve obviously got an extremely strong four-day team and it’s obviously a very special thing as a player to win the County Championship and I think it’s something that, as a club, Surrey want to win five, six, seven in a row and do something that no-one has done before. I feel with our squad of players we can achieve that, so that’s number one priority at the moment and if anything else comes along then I’ll be there and try and take it.”
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