Australian swing bowler Dan Worrall has earned comparisons to Jimmy Anderson as a pair of England legends push for him to be selected by Brendon McCullum ahead of next year’s Ashes tour.
It’s been more than a century since a cricketer played for both England and Australia, but 33-year-old Worrall will qualify for Australia’s rivals in time for the 2025 northern summer, before Ben Stokes’ team pursue the Ashes in Australia.
Is an England cap within reach for Dan Worrall?Credit: AP
Worrall has plucked 139 wickets at 21.17 for Surrey over the past three seasons, including 52 at a paltry 16.15 apiece this year. With a British passport via his father’s heritage, Worrall was in the long queue behind Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood before defecting and moving to the UK to play as a local in 2022 – and after three full years he will be eligible for England in April 2025.
Surrey’s outgoing team director Alec Stewart, who played 133 Tests for England, said only the recently retired Anderson could compare to the former South Australian quick. Worrall played three one-day internationals for Australia in 2016.
“After Jimmy Anderson, over the last two years he’s the best bowler in the country. He is as close to Jimmy Anderson skills wise that I’ve seen, and he’s just got better and better,” Stewart told the London Telegraph. “So would I pick him? We’re about winning, so yes.
“If he gets picked, there will be plenty of headlines and plenty of comments, but we have got to move with the times. Really, it’s not ideal, I just want people born and bred in England, grew up wanting to play for England. But while regulations are there, he’s just going to strengthen England’s bowling because he is a serious cricketer.”
England picked numerous players of Australian background during Stewart’s time in the 1990s, including Martin McCague, Craig White and Jason Gallian. McCague, infamously, was labelled “the rat who joined the sinking ship” during the 1993 Ashes series.
Anderson’s longtime bowling offsider Stuart Broad has remarked that a seasoned customer of Worrall’s type would be the ideal adjunct to a young England attack next year.
“I’m a huge fan of Dan’s bowling – he’s the standout player in county cricket,” Broad said this week. “He moves the ball consistently, and not just the red ball – he can nibble the new white ball around too and has good skills. I like what he does with that wide angle on the crease, he can swing the ball away and nip it back. He has a lot of weapons in his armoury.
“There is no doubt he will be in the selectors’ thoughts because you could get a couple of great years from him. Ultimately, playing for him will be about winning Tests, and he is a bowler that could help you get 20 wickets for a couple of seasons.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Dan came into the group and didn’t necessarily play every game but came in to contribute and win matches because someone with his experience, you could use him for a game, sit him out for two or three weeks and when you pick him again, he’ll be able to deliver straight away.”
In terms of other senior bowlers, Chris Woakes is a genius in England but struggles away from home, while Jofra Archer is in the midst of a very gradual return to red ball cricket after a litany of injuries. The speedy Mark Wood is also a series to series proposition.
Before his move to play full-time in England, Worrall was a quality performer for SA, nipping out 184 wickets at 29.03 in first-class games and being an integral member of the teams that made successive Sheffield Shield finals in 2016 and 2017. Bowling well in Australia with the Kookaburra ball, therefore, is not beyond him.
“You can’t not notice Dan Worrall,” England team director Rob Key has said. “He just looks like a very good bowler. He’s highly skilled, and he looks like someone who is completely in control of his game.
“He is probably one of the best bowlers in the country playing domestic cricket. He probably could make the jump. He’s got brilliant attributes to be an international bowler.”
News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
