Liam Dawson’s triumphant return to the Test cricket fold underlines issue at heart of selection

It was 2,928 days or eight years and six days or 102 Tests. Which, to put it another way, was as many Tests as Ian Botham played, and he ensured many of them were eventful.

Liam Dawson’s exile from Test cricket spanned 102 Tests, and eras. When he had last played, some of the names on either side – Alastair Cook and Gary Ballance, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis, Morne Morkel – evoke another age.

When Dawson had played his third and, seemingly final, Test, Yashavi Jaiswal was just 15. When he played his fourth, Jaiswal was a superstar. And when he bowled the seventh delivery of a comeback he thought would never come, Jaiswal became his belated eighth Test wicket. Amla, now 42, was his seventh, back in 2017.

If good things come to those who wait, Dawson had waited longer than most. “The age I am at, I probably thought Test cricket was gone but to be back involved is really cool,” he said. A fourth Test featured a rivalry that has been building during the series, Ben Stokes responding to Shubman Gill’s escalating the war of words on Tuesday with a roar as he dismissed his opposite number, but also a newer duel. Dawson against Jaiswal was deserving county pro against potential great. It also ended swiftly.

Like Jofra Archer at Lord’s, a long absence from Test cricket came to a cathartic end with an early wicket. Dawson had a further wait, half a day in conditions that suited swing and seam more than spin elapsing before Stokes turned to the 35-year-old. When he tossed a ball up outside off stump, tempting Jaiswal to drive, he instead edged to Harry Brook at slip.

It was his 372nd first-class wicket. He had taken so many that, he revealed, he forgot he took 10 in a match at Old Trafford last season. The numbers tell part of the tale. They have formed part of the case for Dawson. The sense was that England either ignored the County Championship or delighted in annoying the traditionalists who thought weight of runs and wickets should be sizeable factors in selection. The unflattering statistics of Josh Hull and Shoaib Bashir in the domestic game were no bar to them, the consistent excellence of Dawson seemingly no advantage to him.

He was, eventually, a meritocratic selection, even if it took finger surgery for Bashir to bring a recall. Stokes had been confident Dawson would have the knowhow to slot in. So it proved. “I knew what to expect,” he said. He bowled tidily. He almost had a second wicket, Gill nearly caught by a flying Stokes at mid-on, Rishabh Pant beaten when trying to cut.

Pant took on Dawson, in part because he takes on everyone but his bravado brought his downfall. He had the audacity to sweep Archer for four and attempt a reverse pull off him. Yet his penchant for the unorthodox brought a painful end. He misjudged a sweep at Chris Woakes, surviving an lbw appeal but being carted off on a mini-ambulance with a bloodied, perhaps broken, foot. It could prove a series-ending blow.

The irony for Woakes, who bowled well, was that the wicket-taking delivery that dismissed KL Rahul may prove less useful than the ball to Pant that brought a lost review; the wicketkeeper departed anyway.

So while a score of 264-4 may suggest it was India’s day, especially after England won the toss, the eventual verdict may depend on the severity of Pant’s injury. “I can’t see him taking much more part in the game,” said Dawson. India may be a batter down in the second innings.

They won the first session, England the second. Stokes won a battle of captain against captain. Gill had played his shots in the press conference the previous day, accusing England of breaching the spirit of cricket at Lord’s. He didn’t in the middle, an attempted leave costing him dearly as Stokes swung the ball into his pad. A huge appeal for lbw was eventually granted by umpire Rod Tucker.

It was a third successive low score for Gill after his 430-run epic at Edgbaston. His average for the series has dropped into double figures, putting him back in the ranks of the mere mortals.

Stokes had a second victim of the day, albeit rather later than he might have done. Sai Sudharsan dropped by Jamie Smith off Stokes, the captain’s ploy of trying to get the recalled No 3 caught down the legside almost succeeding. It was, though, a glaring miss from Smith. It cost 41 runs.

On 20 then, Sudharsan dug in. It took him 134 balls to bring up a maiden Test half-century, his caution rendering it all the more surprising when he then pulled Stokes to Brydon Carse at long leg.

England waited a while to get him out. And, indeed, a while to even get him in. Woakes had beaten the bat – Jaiswal’s in particular – time and again in a morning session when England went wicketless before striking in the afternoon after switching to the Brian Statham End.

Rahul, who had looked more secure than Jaiswal, nevertheless departed before him, caught by Zak Crawley at slip. Instead, Jaiswal was the opener who made the half-century, passing 1,000 Test runs against England process. Joe Root has the record number of runs between these countries but Jaiswal looks the young pretender.

It is a long time since Dawson could be described in such terms. But a reward for a throwback choice was also a moment for county cricket to savour.