Dan Lawrence said, ‘I feel like I’ve got a lot to offer English cricket,’ after scoring his third half-century in four innings. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA
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Lawrence rues missed ton but ‘really happy’ with displays
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Tourists’ batting coach hails potential of new players
A few hours after his yelp of frustration echoed around Edgbaston, an innings of 65 and the growing conviction that “I was going to make a really big score” ended when he chased a wide delivery and played on, Dan Lawrence’s emotions had settled into something approaching contentment. England had taken a firm grip on the game, Pakistan ending the second day still 268 away from making them bat again with eight wickets remaining, and Lawrence, having posted three half-centuries in four Test innings this summer, is finally delivering on his obvious potential in an England shirt.
“I’m obviously gutted I didn’t kick on,” he said. “I felt like I was playing really nicely and it was a really good surface to bat on against a tiring attack at that stage. I thought I was going to make a really big score, but it wasn’t meant to be. But I’m really happy with how I’ve played [this summer].
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“I always knew deep down that my ability was good enough to play at this level, even though I hadn’t necessarily shown it in my first stint playing. That was obviously a tough time, when I got dropped from the team [in 2022], and all I was concentrating on was trying to score big runs in county cricket and get myself in, because I feel like I’ve got a lot to offer English cricket.”
Pakistan are also confident about their potential, even if at this stage it seems unlikely to be realised on this tour. “There’s a lot of class in this dressing room,” said Michael Smith, who was appointed batting coach last month. “There’s a lot of serious players here. It would be nice for them to show the rest of the UK, and the people back in Pakistan, what they’ve still got. Because we’ve got no doubt that it’s there.”
The tourists’ batting has been poor throughout the series – they are yet to score as many as 200 runs in an innings – but Smith is content that the right players are learning the right lessons for the future. “A lot of our players, it’s their first tour of England,” Smith said. “I suppose we might not see the sort of success we want to see now, but hopefully if a lot of these players are back on our next UK tour, we’ll really see an upward trend. I think that’s the time to really judge them.
“Let’s not worry about what’s happening here. We’ve got some really exciting players and potential is exceptionally high. It’s just how quickly we can get them to that level, especially playing outside of Pakistan. That’s going to be a big challenge and it’s something we’re really excited about.”
