England's white-ball captain Harry Brook spoke highly of veteran spin-bowling all-rounder Liam Dawson in the press conference on July 21 at The Old Trafford, Manchester. A couple of days ahead of fourth Test of Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, England announced their playing XI. They made one forced change, replacing an injured Shoaib Bashir with experienced Dawson who has made a comeback to the Test setup after eight long years.
Brook talked about Dawson's experience and how his presence adds to the batting depth of the England team. He hailed his fighting spirit as well.
“He's a wily old fox, [and] very experienced. He's a very skilful cricketer as well. He's played everywhere, played against everyone. Hopefully, he can land it in the foot-holes and create a bit of spice out of there and some opportunities to take wickets,” Brook said in the press conference.
"He's obviously a very good batter as well, he's got nearly 20 (18) First-Class hundreds. That's adding to our strength in batting. He's a good bloke, he's willing to always fight for the team. He's very competitive, and it's good to have him here."
England's playing XI for Manchester Test -
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Liam Dawson, Chris Woakes, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer
Dawson's Test numbers
When Dawson made his previous Test appearance against South Africa in 2017 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, Brook was still new to first-class cricket. The 35-year-old has seven wickets from three Test appearances so far. He has a half-century to his name in Test cricket as well.
Dawson's Test debut against India
In 2016, he made his Test debut against India in Chennai, the same Test where Karun Nair scored an unbeaten 303. He remained unbeaten for 66 in the first innings, helping visitors post 477 on the board. He wasn't lethal with the ball as Nair piled on runs. His maiden Test wicket was Murali Vijay followed by Ravindra Jadeja. In England's second innings, he was knocked over by leg-spinner Amit Mishra for a seven-ball duck. India won the Test by an innings and 75 runs.