At the end of the 2008 season, when Liam Dawson won the Uncapped Player of the Year Award, he told me “I’ve got to keep my feet on the ground; everyone tells me the second season can be hard, so it’ll be good to do well next year.” Well maybe that second First Class century eluded him, and there were no more Man of the Match awards, but he still cemented his First XI place in all forms of the game and improved his batting averages and numbers of wickets taken. Not a bad year for the nineteen year old then.

“In 2008 I had a really good year. I came into the side and did well, but this year was a bit tough, especially the first half of the season. Overall I enjoyed it and the last couple of months of the season I performed more how I know I can perform myself. I opened the batting and started to score a few runs – so overall it was an OK year not a brilliant one, but it wasn’t a bad one either. I ended up averaging 30 which isn’t brilliant but it’s not the end of the world by any means.

“But to be given the chance to play a Lord’s final at nineteen, and to play all the games up to that, shows the backing that the club has for me and hopefully in years to come I can repay them with my performances. To win the Friends Provident Trophy final at Lord’s was unbelievable; especially walking round with that trophy after the game. It was pretty emotional, to be fair, looking into the stands seeing the thousands of fans who’d cheered us on, and we sent them away happy. That was an awesome day.”

Dawson celebrates a wicket

It has been widely commented that Liam hadn’t bowled as much during 2009 and I was fascinated to know whether there had been a deliberate decision to focus on his batting. Liam answered with his normal complete openness. “No, not at all; Dimi didn’t bowl me because I wasn’t bowling well, and that’s fair enough. I didn’t deserve to bowl and I didn’t bowl well all year, but it’s something I’ve been working extremely hard on for the last six weeks with Tony Middleton and Giles White, trying to sort a few technical things out. I know what I’ve got to do and I’ll do my best to bowl better next year.”

So he sees himself as an all rounder? I am corrected with a great deal of good humour.  “I’m always a batsman first! But I’ve done well with the ball and I would like to become a genuine all rounder.” And an opener? Giles White had told me that he thought Liam’s technique was suited to it. “It came to me when Carbs broke his finger and I was a bit nervous at first. I actually said to Chalky he’d better get someone in on loan, but he told me I was the right man for the job and luckily I showed what I could do. If Carbs plays for England or gets injured I’d definitely like to do it again.”

Clearly Giles White is a major influence on Dawson’s career, but what about Duncan Fletcher? “Fletch is a great man. He’s got a lot of theories, but he’s very good to talk to, and not just about your own game – about the experiences he’s had, especially with England. He’s just brilliant to sit down with in the changing room and pick his brains about cricket.”

When I mention Liam’s choice to stay with Hampshire instead of playing his final games for England Under 19s a grin spreads across his face. “I played a couple of years for the Under 19s but the best thing for my cricket now was to go out and play First Class cricket. Under 19s is a great achievement to represent your country, but at the end of the day if there’s an opportunity in First Team cricket you should be allowed to play. It’s quite strange to think it could be otherwise.”

Liam is pleased with his progress with the bat

Liam’s choice hasn’t hurt his chances with the England set up as he is now part of their Performance Programme for the winter and he is very enthusiastic about it. “It should be a really good trip! I’m looking forward to that. It looks like I’ll get to do a little bit of work with Peter Such who played Test cricket for England so I’ll be looking to pick his brains and learn what I can and get a lot out of the three weeks we’re in Pretoria.” Liam is in the C Group, for the younger players, and they are spending five days preparing at Loughborough this month before leaving for South Africa on 3rd January.

Having negotiated his second season successfully, what are Liam’s plans for kicking on? “Personally I would love to open the batting, but at the end of the day I’m nineteen! Carbs and Jimmy have been fantastic all year but if one of them gets injured and an opportunity comes then I’d love to do it. Apart from that, if I can play a role in the side and play First Team cricket, I don’t care where I bat – I just love playing for Hampshire.”
 

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