JAMES COYNE: With Ashley Giles' promise of recalibration towards Test cricket ringing in the players' ears, just two years out from an Ashes tour, this could be the making of some.
In this atomised franchise world, not every cricketing verity is entirely watertight. Mind you, the tradition that England teams find it tough going in Australia does not look like halting any time soon.
England Lions fly over for five List A and three first-class games in a week’s time, knowing that an England second-string have not won a match in Australia since 1996/97.
The depth of quality in English white-ball cricket suggests that the Lions have a decent chance in the first half of the tour. But, with Ashley Giles’ promise of recalibration towards Test cricket ringing in the players' ears, just two years out from an away Ashes series, the second half could be profound indeed. There could soon be some more under-25s in the England Test reckoning.
“Australia is a very tough place to go and perform and do well,” said captain Lewis Gregory. “We had some stats up earlier in a meeting about past England teams and how they've done in Australia.
“Traditionally, over the last 20 years, England teams going out to Australia haven't done very well but I think this is a massive opportunity with the Ashes in two years' time for guys to put their hands up to go and perform in those conditions.
“I'm personally looking forward to it, it's a big honour and hopefully we can win a lot of games over in Australia.”
One area bound to be in the spotlight is spin bowling. Already this winter Dom Bess, unable to break into Somerset’s side on a regular basis, has been thrust into Test cricket, and acquitted himself well in England's euphoric Test win at Newlands.
England Lions head coach Richard Dawson
Eyebrows were raised at the selection of two off-spinners for the four-day leg of the Lions tour, in a country where wrist-spinners are often needed to offer a wicket-taking threat. At the moment Bess is the frontline spinner, though his participation on the Lions tour – plus that of batsmen Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley – will be assessed in light of their workload in the Tests in South Africa and bearing in mind England’s upcoming series in Sri Lanka.
Amar Virdi is the other spinner in the Lions party. Of the leg-spinners, Mason Crane is only in the one-day squad and there are currently no plans to bring in Matt Parkinson, despite his difficult experience this winter.
Dawson, who was England’s main spinner on the 2002/03 Ashes tour, will be a crucial confidante for the Lions spinners. He urged them to look at the example of Nathan Lyon.
“It's a tough job, finger-spin now, especially in Australia where they look to take it down. To be handle that emotionally and behaviourally, that's quite a big thing.
“Bessy showed in the last Test match, his big thing [in the Lions pre-series training camp] in Mumbai was repeating his best ball. You have your own things like seam position and overspin and the little intricacies…
“Bessy is 22. If that was me, I'd have been chasing wickets after half an hour of bowling. Just to see him do that for two-hour sessions, that is the fundamental that all great spin bowlers do.
“[In Mumbai] we did some work with Rangana Herath, who was a fine spinner and took a lot of wickets, but you wouldn't call him a mystery spinner. What he did do was build pressure and create chances that way over a long period of time.
“Virds and Bessy are at the starting point of their career, still, in the big picture, so the fundamentals, just keep repeating that and on a day-to-day basis, from a personality and characteristic point of view, stay pretty consistent in your behaviours.
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“Lyon didn't step into international cricket and just completely tear it up. I can remember him coming to England and having to work really hard for his wickets. What he did do was improve and improve and now he's a phenomenal bowler. Very rarely do you find a cricketer who walks into international cricket and just nails it down. Sometimes it's a bit of peak and trough – that's part of professional sport.”
Crane, who famously made his Test debut aged 21 at the SCG at the fag-end of the last Ashes tour, has found red-ball opportunities sparse since then – and is concentrating on white-ball cricket for now.
Dawson said: “Mason's played a lot of white-ball cricket recently and a lot of this is geared towards getting him back and giving him time to get back into red-ball form. He's got his own individual thing that he's working on.”
England’s swing bowlers have often struggled for joy with the red Kookaburra ball. Gregory is well aware that the Lions’ management of the Kookaburra could determine their fortunes in Australia. Their feedback could also prove crucial in whether the ECB follow through on their idea of drafting the Kookaburra into some rounds of the County Championship – so England do not look quite so lost when they start handling it overseas.
“The Kookaburra doesn’t swing like the Dukes does, and the pitches are generally better to bat on. It’s being able to come up with gameplans individually and as a team. The ball is going to be massive in terms of how we get it in a place to move laterally. It’s looking at how you take 20 wickets – whether you go at two and over or go short at guys and look to be a little more hostile.”
Dawson steps into big shoes – taking charge of the first Lions tour since the departure of the decorated Andy Flower and the shake-up of the Loughborough hierarchy at the instigation of Giles, the managing director of England men’s cricket.
“I’m not a shouter and bawler. Wayne Clark was my first coach at Yorkshire, from WA, and he was exceptional. As a 21-year-old to be treated and talked to as I was was brilliant.
Leg-spinner Mason Crane
“I made a few mistakes as you do when you’re young, but he was really good about making you understand what choices you make – not necessarily cricketing-specific, but how you are as you’re maturing and growing up.
“I’m pretty sure if you asked any of the players here, you’ve got coaches who are tactically brilliant, then some more technical coaches, and you pick up all these things from people as you go along. I wouldn’t say you learn just from one or two, but you go along your career and learn.
“[Gregory] had one of the best T20 batsman in world cricket in his [Somerset] changing room last year, Babar Azam, and as an opposition coach you’re sat there thinking ‘crikey’ – an unbelievable player.
“So Tom Banton, I’m pretty sure, would have learned a lot just by being stood at the other end of the 22 yards. As a player you do pick up little things as long as you’ve got your eyes open, and you’re willing to accept some of that information.”
Dawson said a decision had yet to be made – or at least communicated with him from above – about whether this Lions team will play football in practice sessions. It would seem unlikely, after the England team management banned it in South Africa in light of Rory Burns’ ligament injury ruling him out for four months. Giles has already made it known that he considers football an unnecessary risk.
Dawson said the decision does not fall under his remit: “Football doesn't go in my bag – mine's cricket balls and bats.”
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