Former England captain Nasser Hussain has been critical of Dan Lawrence’s poor show as a makeshift opener. He earned an opportunity to feature in the Test team for the first time since 2022 following Zak Crawley’s injury during the recent home series against the West Indies as well. However, Lawrence could not do well at the top of the order. He looked good in flashes but was not consistent and was repeatedly dismissed by deliveries outside the off stump as well.
Lawrence concluded the series with 120 runs in six innings which came at an average of 20 and a strike rate of 65.57. He also played a quickfire run-a-ball 35 in the second innings of the series finale at The Oval, ending as the team’s second-highest run-getter during the 156-run collapse as well.
“Now, as a player averaging 37 in first-class cricket, he has a choice: either copy the tactic of Sir Alastair Cook, leaving the ball outside off-stump and forcing opponents to come to you,” Hussain wrote for his column in the Daily Mail. “Lawrence has got to work out – whatever position he plays, because even in the middle-order they can still bowl outside off-stump – whether he is going to develop patience, become better in that area outside off or maintain ‘that’s the way I play.’ Whether it be with his county Surrey or with the England coaches, he needs to find his answer,” he added.
“It goes without saying at the moment that he doesn’t look like a Test match opener. Sri Lanka have bowled both sides of the wicket with the new ball, but others won’t. This regime of Rob Key and Brendon McCullum talk about picking players with high ceilings and he’s still someone you’d identify as having the potential for big innings. Just not in that position, against the new Dukes ball nipping around in that corridor outside off-stump, in English conditions. Bowl there and he looks very vulnerable,” Hussain again shared.
However, Lawrence has played 14 Tests, scoring 671 runs at an average of 26.84. Alongside this, Lawrence did part-time spin bowling too. He even bowled eight overs in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka as well. With 35 first-class wickets at an average of 40.82 and an economy of
3.50, he could be a handy spinner on the upcoming tour of Pakistan.
“Everything considered he will feel vulnerable with selection coming up for the tours to Pakistan and New Zealand. The former later this week. The one thing in his favor for Pakistan, and the same is true for his county colleague Will Jacks if he is still on England’s radar, is that he bowls useful off-spin, maybe getting more bounce, putting more revolutions on the ball and maintaining better seam position at times than young Shoaib Bashir. Zak Crawley is going to come back in to partner Duckett next month and his bowling might be the only thing in his favour if he is up against Essex’s uncapped Jordan Cox for that spare batting berth on tour,” he concluded.
