Dawson gives England peek into parallel universe

Lord's has not been kind to fingers.

Steve Smith mangled his pinky in the World Test Championship final, then a rather fortuitous blow to India's Rishabh Pant meant he could bat and not keep wicket in the third Test against England last week.

Shoaib Bashir came off worse than Smith and Pant. Ravindra Jadeja's belt back at the England off-spinner resulted in surgery to Bashir's left little finger and an absence from the fourth Test at Old Trafford, starting on Wednesday, and the finale at The Oval next week.

One wonders about the butterfly effect caused by the swish of Jadeja's blade. England were too deep into the Bashir project to change course either in this series or the Ashes. Now they have been given an unexpected opportunity to see what they could have won.

It is, if you will pardon the pun, a sliding Daws moment.

Liam Dawson, in the England Test team for the first time in eight years, is the polar opposite of Bashir.

Bashir was picked after Ben Stokes saw a clip of him on social media, Dawson has been the unpicked social media darling. Dawson could not get in despite a proven first-class record, Bashir was picked despite not having one.

Bashir is tall, Dawson isn't. Bashir is 21, Dawson 35. Bashir is right-arm, Dawson left. Without being unkind, Bashir is a one-dimensional cricketer, Dawson is an all-rounder. The Hampshire man has more first-class runs than every player in the India squad.

Bashir has been an experiment in whether a Test cricketer can be grown on the international stage. Of his 34 first-class matches, 19 have been Tests.

He has something. The Somerset bowler is the youngest England man to 50 Test wickets. Of all England spinners to have at least 50 wickets since World War Two, his strike-rate is bettered only by Graeme Swann.

It has often been a step forward, then a step back. Bashir had a difficult winter, so made some tweaks. He got closer to the stumps in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe in May and his line improved. Nine wickets in the match followed.

In the series against India, the master players of spin, he has gone back wider of the crease and the line has remained consistent. In three Tests where spinners have struggled to make an impact, Bashir's 10 wickets is the most of the tweakers on either side. Jadeja, a much more accomplished bowler, only has three.

There is a question of whether all wickets are equal. Six of Bashir's successes are via catches in the deep, another a stumping and another a caught and bowled off a miscue. At Lord's he had just produced his best bit of bowling, a dipper to draw the edge of KL Rahul, before he was injured. His most important act of the series, getting Mohammed Siraj to play on to seal England's 22-run win, was also his last.

That moxie to still be involved despite his injury is one of the reasons why England like Bashir. They value his temperament and willingness to get into the battle. Stokes' side should get more of the same from Dawson.

It is some comeback from Dawson, who as recently as April admitted his international career was over.

England ignored his superb domestic record for three years before a recall to play in the T20s against West Indies in May. It says much that Brendon McCullum's first look at Dawson has resulted in a recall to the Test side. There are two centrally contracted Test spinners on England's books, but Rehan Ahmed has been carrying an injury and Jack Leach's international career now looks over.

Eleven other men have been chosen to bowl spin for England in 102 Tests since Dawson last played against South Africa in 2017. Though Stokes said he expects Dawson to be nervous, he is also likely to be dependable.

Bowling his left-armers round the wicket, he will target the stumps more than Bashir and, according to CricViz, generally gets more drift through the air. There is the question of whether Dawson would be the man to bowl England to victory on a worn final-day pitch, but Bashir is yet to do that is his short Test career.

Dawson's presence at number eight, pushing Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer down to nine, 10 and 11 respectively, essentially means England do not have a tail.

Quite what Dawson would have do to become England's first-choice spinner is unknown, still this is an unexpected second life in Test cricket, with the opportunity to win a series against India and book a ticket to the Ashes series that follows. He could not have done more to deserve it.

Given his experience, Dawson will not be rattled by the tetchiness that began at Lord's and has carried to Old Trafford.

The evolution of England's mindset has become a fascinating subplot to the summer. What started with McCullum and Stokes asking for "humility" before the Zimbabwe Test turned into McCullum saying they are "too nice" before the third Test against India. In the background is legendary All Blacks mental skills coach Gilbert Enoka.

England will certainly need the harder edge they found at Lord's in Australia this winter. Stokes said they will not go looking for confrontation on the field, though it may find them, given India skipper Shubman Gill's pre-match comments about the "spirit of cricket" on Tuesday.

Gill is a young captain, leading a new-look team. He waited more than a week to get his thoughts about Lord's off his chest and may now be reminded of them by thousands of raucous Mancunians in the almost-permanent temporary stand at Old Trafford.

England are settled, India have injury issues to address. Nitish Kumar Reddy and Akash Deep are out, seamer Anshul Kamboj looks set to go from not even being in the squad to a Test debut.

Pant has recovered from his finger injury and will keep wicket, while Jasprit Bumrah will surely be unleashed once more to keep the series alive.

In order to force a decider at The Oval, India will have to win at Old Trafford for the first time, something they managed at Edgbaston in the second Test. The last Indian to make a Test century in this city was a 17-year-old Sachin Tendulkar's maiden ton 35 years ago.

England, on the other hand, have a formidable record here, with only one defeat since 2001. There is a little bit of making up to do after the Old Trafford rain washed out any hopes of an Ashes victory two years ago. Despite showers on Monday and Tuesday, the forecast looks good enough for the five days of the Test.

Nine days on from the Lord's classic, these teams go at it again, serving up the latest chapter in one of the most compelling five-Test series in this country since the 2005 Ashes, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this week.

More Gill, more Stokes. More Bumrah, more Archer. More Pant sommersaults, more Harry Brook handstands. More ball changes, more time-wasting. No Bashir, finally more Dawson. More needle?

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