Melbourne-born swing king could make history if picked by England, almost a decade after he played three ODIs for Australia
Dan Worrall is the man of the moment in English cricket, about to embark on a county season that could lead to him making history as the first player in 126 years to represent both Australia and England.
But amid all the fuss, the modest quick shrugs he’s really “not that bothered”.
Worrall’s more preoccupied in making history for his county team Surrey as he sets out to bowl them towards a fourth consecutive championship title.
Surrey’s bid begins at Chelmsford against Essex on Friday with Worrall’s Oval-based crew seeking to emulate their famous mid-1950s side who completed four in a row in 1955 en route to an unmatched run of seven successive titles.
It’s a landmark, the 33-year-old Worrall shrugs, that interests him rather more than all the hoopla surrounding whether this could be the summer he gets an England call-up, nine years since he featured in three ODIs for Australia, and becomes the first to play Test cricket for both countries since Albert Trott in 1899.
It’s certainly on the cards, with the Ashes on the horizon later this year, if Worrall maintains the superb form that’s delivered Surrey 139 wickets at an average of 21.2 over their three title-winning summers.
“Once he left for England, I think a lot of us opening batters were licking our lips going, ‘thank god we don’t have to face him’,” reflected David Warner recently.
“Besides Jimmy Anderson swinging that pink ball around at Adelaide Oval, there hasn’t been a guy that can get the ball to talk off the wicket there like Dan Worrall could.”
Not many surprises with this one… 👀
Dan Worrall finished with more @CountyChamp wickets than any other Surrey player in 2024! 🏅
5⃣2⃣ wickets 📈
1⃣1⃣ matches 🔋
1⃣6⃣.1⃣5⃣ average 😲
Best in the business! 🤝
🤎 | #SurreyCricket pic.twitter.com/jAUQWTyzgy
Worrall will soon qualify to play for England and national cricket director Rob Key has previously suggested he’s on the radar of the Test outfit led by Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes.
But while admitting he’d like to play for his adopted country, it’s not the be-all-and-end-all for the unassuming bloke who just shrugs that he’s enjoying getting on the London tube to go to work playing cricket.
“I haven’t thought about it,” says Worrall, when asked about all the England conjecture. “Everyone else keeps talking about it, I’m just going to go out and do my best for Surrey and hopefully enjoy another successful season at The Oval.
“It doesn’t faze me too much. Whatever will happen will happen.”
But his bowling will doubtless continue to faze batters around the country, with considered strong favourites to prevail again.
Worrall will be one of around a dozen Australian players who’ll be in action at the start of the county programme, with two second-division sides now being captained by experienced former Test batters – Cameron Bancroft, at Gloucestershire, and Peter Handscomb, at Leicestershire.
Bancroft, a 10-Test veteran, has been tipped to bring the success he’s had at Western Australia, where he’s won three Sheffield Shield titles, to the west of England county.
And he’ll get a bit of early-season help from star allrounder Cameron Green, who’ll join the team later in April as he gets back to action following his back surgery, with an eye to making Australia’s World Test Championship final team as a batter.
Handscomb, who’s already captained Durham and Middlesex, now takes the first-class reins at Leicestershire after overseeing their T20 Blast campaigns the past two seasons.
The 33-year-old will be hoping to keep piling on the runs, having already scored 2872 for Leicestershire across all formats.
Derbyshire: Caleb Jewell
Durham: Brendan Doggett (April-May)
Gloucestershire: Cameron Bancroft, Cameron Green (April-May)
Hampshire: Jack Edwards (April-May), Charli Knott (April-July)
Kent: Wes Agar, Tom Rogers (T20 Blast only)
Lancashire: Chris Green, Marcus Harris
Leicestershire: Peter Handscomb
Northamptonshire: Ashton Agar (T20 Blast only), Liam Guthrie (local player)
Nottinghamshire: Moises Henriques (T20 Blast only), Fergus O’Neill (until April 28), Daniel Sams (T20 Blast only), Heather Graham (May-July)
Somerset: Riley Meredith, Amanda-Jade Wellington
Surrey: Grace Harris (T20 Blast only)
Sussex: Daniel Hughes, Gurinder Sandhu (June-July)
Warwickshire: Beau Webster
Worcestershire: Ben Dwarshuis (T20 Blast only)
Yorkshire: Will Sutherland (T20 Blast + 2 County), Jordan Buckingham (four matches in May)
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