Dawson primed for Proteas test

Newly-appointed England Under-19 captain Liam Dawson hopes the series in South Africa is more memorable than his first tour at that level.

Dawson, the 18-year-old Hampshire all-rounder, takes over the captaincy from Essex’s Tom Westley for five one-day internationals, two Twenty20 matches and a one-off Test against the young Proteas.

Dawson’s first tour with the Under-19s was the HSBC Invitational 1st Tri-Series in Kuala Lumpur in early 2007, when England struggled on slow pitches against India and Sri Lanka.

The left-arm spinner took 14 wickets in nine matches, with a stunning spell of 6-2-9-6 against Malaysia - but two years on Dawson believes he is a much-improved bowler.

“I was in Perth and got an e-mail from John Abrahams to go to Malaysia,” Dawson told ECBtv.

“We didn’t do very well as a team so it wasn’t a particularly memorable tour.

Liam Dawson high-fives Nic Pothas after scoring his maiden first-class century

Buy this photo

“I think Indians and Sri Lankans play spin very well. And I struggled bowling to them.

“But I found something I needed to work on and it was a good learning experience for me.”

Dawson did well against Pakistan Under-19s in the summer of 2007 and returned with the Under-19s to Sri Lanka last winter.

2008 marked his breakthrough county season - he became a fixture in Hampshire’s LV County Championship side with his accurate spin and struck his maiden first-class century in the final match at Trent Bridge to scupper Nottinghamshire’s title hopes.

Dawson is now bestowed with the responsibility of captaincy - in a tough cricketing environment.

The England squad land in South Africa tomorrow, and commence their tour with a one-day match against a South Africa Under-19s Invitation XI at the PP Smit Stadium in Bellville, Cape Town.

He added: “It's a good place to go and play good cricket. They’re quite confident people. But so as long as we do things right we should be OK.

“I wouldn’t say there is any outstanding player in our squad, they’re all of a good standard.

“Obviously it’s great to play at higher levels but we must keep our heads on the ground.”