It is the dawn of a new County Championship season and everybody wants to talk about Dan Worrall. Except, it seems, the man himself. “I might just announce my international retirement and we can all go home,” Worrall jests as he deals with the first of many questions in a summer in which he will become eligible for England.
You will, by now, have a degree of familiarity with the story of the Australian swing bowler who has come to form the backbone of a county cricket dynasty. Across the last three years, Worrall has been the standout seamer in the country, marrying new-ball movement to unerring accuracy on and around the top of off stump to prove a vital component in Surrey’s three-peat. His tale – the angled run-up grooved dodging a tree in his childhood back yard, the nickname taken from a West Indian legend – would be fascinating enough even if the 33-year-old did not qualify for England.
But he does. Or at least will do. Hence the noise. At some point this year, Worrall will satisfy the eligibility requirements and become available for England selection. And Rob Key, Luke Wright, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes will have a decision to make.
“You can’t not notice Dan Worrall,” Key said last year. While the England selection panel appear to be County Championship sceptics, a summer in which he took his 52 red-ball wickets at 16.15 certainly represents a compelling case for inclusion.
Confirming only that he would accept a call-up were one to come, Worrall played the straightest of bats to questions as probing and repetitive as one of his new-ball bursts. “Honestly, you guys talk about it much more than we do,” the Melbourne-born seamer says. “To be honest, I haven’t thought about it. Everyone else keeps talking about it. I’m just going to go out and do my best for Surrey and hopefully enjoy another successful season.
“It’s one of those things. As a player, as soon as you start thinking about that, it detracts from your potential as a player and a person. Whatever happens will happen. I’ll try my best wherever I am.
“The way that I go about it is I’m just not interested in what anyone else is saying about it. I’ll just do my best for the team I am representing and trying to get the best out of myself. With two kids under three, that keeps me busy most of the time anyway.”
Capped three times by Australia in white-ball cricket in 2016, county cricket has proved the making of a bowler with a sloping approach and capacity to create lavish seam and swing movement. After an initial taste of the English summer at Gloucester, Worrall strutted across to Surrey, where he has flourished, securing three County Championship crowns in three years at The Oval.
Not that cricket was necessarily the original plan when the 33-year-old moved his family across the world. “I always thought I’d be getting the tube to work in London; I never thought I’d be getting it to a cricket ground,” Worrall concedes. “To have that opportunity is amazing. With a young family, we just thought it was a great challenge to take on. It’s been rewarding on that front, and luckily I’ve played at an amazing club and won three championships.
“I moved over with an eight-week-old baby at the time. We challenged ourselves while we were still young enough to move around the world. Now I’ve got an English boy, so he’ll have the golden ticket as well. No doubt, it’s been tough. Moving to the other side of the world with no family in London, we’ve had to figure it out as we’d go. But that has been rewarding at the same time. When I come out and play cricket, that’s the easiest part of the day.”
Worrall has picked up at least one English habit, eager with a self-deprecating quip as he jokes that South Australia were probably glad to see him go given the state having just ended a 29-year wait for Sheffield Shield success in his absence. Could a return Down Under for the Ashes this winter be a possibility? Worrall leaves the question alone outside off stump but is willing to play a shot when asked about England’s apparent approach. Key, McCullum and Stokes have placed a premium on pace, a strategy that the bowler, with his knowledge of Australian conditions, believes is shrewd.
“I think the way that England are setting up their fast-bowling cartel is the way forward to win in Australia. We’ve seen success from Gus [Atkinson], Brydon Carse, Mark Wood. I think they are trying to get Jofra Archer up and about for that Ashes series. There is the necessity for pace and bounce in Australia.
“The way that the Australia team have taken wickets consistently for the last decade have been with guys that are over 6-foot-2, bowl fast and don’t miss the spot. Naturally there is a challenge for England bowlers going over to Australia because of that.”
But contained within the need for speed is also a recognition that England cannot push the thoroughbreds too hard; a workhorse, or two, will be required. The exploits of Sam Cook in Australia with the England Lions over the winter are proof that one does not need to be topping 85mph to have success, with the current Kookaburra ball and recent Australian pitches more conducive to lateral movement than previous iterations. Worrall – perhaps a touch quicker than Cook and Chris Woakes but equally skilled – might be an ideal fit for a supporting role.
“There is a role. We saw Jimmy [Anderson] for 20 years go for numerous Ashes series. Naturally, as a swing bowler, you are not going to perform that role in every Test because conditions change with a Kookaburra ball. But there are opportunities. In the last couple of years in Australia, we’ve seen it has been a bit more seamer friendly. Whether that happens again in an Ashes series remains to be seen. But maybe there is a job to do. We’ll wait and see.”
