Lawrence backed to become Surrey’s new all-rounder to boost England chances

Simon Harmer’s brilliance restricted his opportunities to bowl at Essex but the champions will employ his off-breaks in Will Jacks’ absence

Dan Lawrence hopes to use his quirky off-spin to force his way into the England Test team, and has been backed to become a “genuine all-rounder” by his coach at champions Surrey, Gareth Batty.
Lawrence is settling into life south of the Thames after his close-season switch from his boyhood club Essex. The 26-year-old has been England’s reserve batsman across their last 10 Tests, taking in their two biggest series against Australia and India, and hopes that more opportunity with the ball in a Surrey side seeking a third successive Championship title will help force the selectors’ hand.
He will bat No 4 when Surrey open their title defence at Old Trafford next Friday and, unless the pitch looks likely to take masses of spin – improbable in early April, even if Lancashire have Nathan Lyon in their side – Lawrence will fill the role Will Jacks has over the last two seasons: as the spinner supplementing a relentless five-man pace attack.
Jacks is at the IPL, but Surrey will still be able to field a top six with international experience. Ollie Pope and Ben Foakes are Test incumbents, while Jamie Smith made his one-day international debut last year and, like Lawrence, will be competing for a spot in Ben Stokes’s team this summer.
“Massively,” said Lawrence, when asked if he wants to bowl more at Surrey. “That was part of the reason I made the move. Obviously, Essex have got the best spinner in the country in Simon Harmer and my opportunities didn’t really come because he’d bowl the overs and take so many wickets that I never got the chance. I think I’ll get a bit more opportunity here in the red-ball and especially white-ball. That was a big part of the move because if you’re taking a few wickets as well as scoring runs, your chances increase of playing for England.
“I just think personally it can only help if you can bowl a few overs as well as the batting, so that even if a slot came up in the lower order they would know I can bowl a bit of off-spin as well.”
Lawrence has an unusual action and only 20 first-class wickets (three of them in Tests) in 118 first-class matches but Batty, a former England spinner, believes he could be moulded into a more regular bowler.
“He’s already a wonderful player,” he said. “We’re not sitting here trying to take any credit for the work that’s been done up until now. It’s our job to help him evolve as a player, and try to be better. I think that’s part of his reasoning. There is not a player in that dressing room who is not trying to evolve and get better and I think Dan is no different. We already know that he’s a very fine player.
“The sky is the limit for him. I think he could be a genuine all-rounder. There is enough with his bowling that we can evolve it beautifully. We’ve already seen that England are open to looking differently at certain things. We’re only trying to give every player the best opportunity to be playing at the highest level and Dan is different with that. But can we add to his skillset?
Of, Lawrence’s role in the Surrey team, Batty said: “Will Jacks has a Test five-for, so there’s a bit of method there. Can Dan do the same thing? Absolutely. To discount any other spinner is certainly not our intention. We try to pick a team that has length in the batting but the ability to take 20 wickets on any given day, on any given surface, against any given team, and we will try to do that this year.
“I think Dan could be a very fine all-rounder, given more opportunity. I hope we can provide that but if our big lads keep taking wickets at regular intervals, it’s hard to get on. But the intention is we want to involve our spin department to play a bigger part.”