England Experience Caps Special 12 Months For Hampshire's Liam Dawson

It’s been a special 12 months for Hampshire’s Liam Dawson.

From being named in England’s ICC World T20 squad, to claiming his first England cap on his home-ground and being named Hampshire Players’ Player of the Year; this year has undoubtedly been one full of personal achievements for the all-rounder.

The middle-order batsman and slow left-armer totalled more than 1,300 runs at an average of 45.19 whilst also claiming 47 wickets at domestic level in 2016, pressing his claims for a place in the list of England’s most-promising all-round prospects.

Since collecting his first cap at the The Ageas Bowl in July, Dawson has also made his ODI debut as well as featuring in England’s most recent series-winning 50-over squad in their tour of Bangladesh this month.

The 26-year-old has recently returned to Hampshire following the 2-1 victory and spoke of his experiences during his time away with the national side.

“It was a great experience and a high quality series in conditions that England are not necessarily used to,” Dawson said. “To come out with a 50-over series victory was very pleasing for the whole squad and management.

“The conditions took a bit of getting used to but if you want to be the best team in the world you have to go to places like Bangladesh and win the series. Having a very relaxed environment helps with that and it just shows the way that England are playing their one-day cricket that we have a relaxed and confident squad – it’s really exciting to watch and obviously exciting to be involved in as well.”

Dawson’s selection came after impressing when making his England debut in an IT20 against Sri Lanka at the The Ageas Bowl in July where he claimed an efficient 3-24 from his four overs.

A first ODI cap against Pakistan soon followed and having achieved so much this year, he is intent on not stopping now.

 “It was great fun and thankfully I did well – I was actually quite relaxed which was strange but I think being at my home ground and sat in my own spot in the changing room relaxed me a fair bit but it was a great evening for us as a team which was the most important thing.

 “I want to keep trying to get in the limited-overs squads and if I can do that and play consistently then hopefully I can continue to develop and impress. I’m just trying to continue improving bit by bit and learning as much as I can.

“To be in the squad again for Bangladesh was good and hopefully I can get selected for the three ODIs and three IT20s against India in January - we’ll have to wait and see for that, but I’ll be training hard to be ready if selected.”

Whilst Dawson enjoyed a breakout campaign himself this season, results for Hampshire did not quite go the way he and his side had hoped, with a number of injuries to key players a significant factor.

However, with a full squad likely to be available heading into the start of the 2017 season, he is hopeful that next year will be a different story.

“I can say that we’re certainly aiming not be in another relegation fight next season!” Dawson said.

“Of course it was hard work being up against it most games and not performing as well as we could have didn’t help, but obviously we need to rectify that from now. I’m hopeful heading into next year that we can start the season well and kick on from there.”