Dan Lawrence

A wristy batter with a homespun technique in sharp contrast to the public-school coaching lessons adopted by many of his peers, Lawrence showed early talent at Essex but spent many years in international cricket as essentially a spare batter for England, getting his Test caps often as an injury replacement.

The son of the groundsman at Chingford CC in East London, Lawrence became the third-youngest player to make a Championship century when he scored 161 for Essex against Surrey aged 17, and went on to help Essex win the Championship in 2017, and both the Championship and the T20 Blast in 2019. He is strong through the leg side, full of quick wrists and inside-out drives, but also capable of absorbing pressure and batting long. After making a technical adjustment in 2019, by reducing his trigger movement and standing more still at the crease, he went on to have a great Lions tour of Australia, making 190 in Hobart and 125 in a day-night game in Melbourne.

He made his Test debut in the subcontinent in 2021, scoring a half-century in his first innings, in Galle, and two more such scores in Ahmedabad two months later. But he struggled to nail down a permanent place in the middle order as Jonny Bairstow, Ollie Pope and, later, Harry Brook, were preferred over him.

On England's tour of the West Indies in 2022, Lawrence made 91 in Barbados, with his captain Joe Root describing it as "a selfless" innings and "a joy to bat with him out there". But that was the tail-end of Root's captaincy and England were looking to rebuild from the ground up for the Bazball revolution. And although he signalled his attacking intent with a run-a-ball 97 against the touring South Africans, Lawrence was squeezed out as the Stokes-McCullum era began.

An opportunity to play as a makeshift opener cropped up against Sri Lanka at home in 2024, but he couldn't manage a score of over 35 in six innings. He was much more productive in the Championship, having unexpectedly left Essex to move to Surrey, where his 617 runs helped the county win their third consecutive Championship title. He was even more prolific over the next two seasons, and a spectacular 218 from 190 balls against Hampshire in 2026 was followed by a Test recall against Pakistan. Restored to the middle order, he scored a half-century in each of the three Tests.

Lawrence's batting technique, as well as his handy offspin, have also helped him forge a respectable T20 career, with stints in the Hundred, the BBL and the ILT20.