Dan Worrall is ready to turn his back on Australia and proudly don the Three Lions if England come calling next year.
The Melbourne-born quick celebrated winning his third Division One title in three years with Surrey last week and has known nothing but success since arriving at the Oval in 2022.
The UK passport holder has made three ODI appearances for Australia but will complete his qualification process to make the switch to England in April 2025.
And with the Aussies lying in wait in the Ashes next winter, he says he would jump at the chance to play international cricket again.
‘At the end of the day it’s out of my hands but next year, if the opportunity comes along, I’d love to take it,’ Worrall tells Mail Sport in his heavy Aussie accent. ‘I’ll do my best to perform and what will be will be, as long as Surrey don’t have a fixture!’
Dan Worrall is ready to turn his back on Australia and proudly don the Three Lions if England come calling
The UK passport holder has made three ODI appearances for Australia
He (left) celebrated winning his third Division One title in three years with Surrey last week
His form at Surrey has not gone unnoticed by Brendon McCullum. And England chief Rob Key confirmed in these pages last week that Worrall, 33, is on his radar to become the first player born in Australia to represent England since batsman Sam Robson in 2014.
Opener Robson was born in Paddington, New South Wales, to an English mother and Australian father, Jim, and went on to represent Australia in nine Under 19 ODIs.
He made the move to England in 2008 after his progress in the New South Wales side was stunted by the presence of Usman Khawaja and the late Phillip Hughes, who both went on to play Tests.
Robson qualified to play for England in 2013 and made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Lord’s the following year. He scored his only Test century in the next match at Headingley, but only played five more times.
While Robson slipped back to the grind of the county circuit and subsequently failed to force his way back into Test contention, Worrall’s performances have been too good to ignore.
In the past three seasons he has taken 139 wickets at an average of just 21, as the Brown Caps have dominated Division One.
As well as his pace and movement, it is Worrall’s distinctive diagonal approach to the wicket that has caught the eye. It is a run-up forged in Victoria while he was a child — one based not on technique but necessity.
‘When I was a kid, if you wanted to bowl anything quicker than spin you used to have to run around this tree at the bottom of the garden,’ he says. ‘I didn’t really have a lot of bowling coaching when I was a youngster so I just kind of lucked my way through. It seems to have worked out all right.
In the past three seasons he has taken 139 wickets at an average of just 21, as the Brown Caps have dominated Division One
His form at Surrey has not gone unnoticed by England head coach Brendon McCullum
And England chief Rob Key confirmed in these pages last week that Worrall, 33, is on his radar
And with the Aussies lying in wait in the Ashes next winter, he says he would jump at the chance to play international cricket again
‘It probably wouldn’t happen now. The guys who are coached in the academy pathways from their early teens, any quirks like that would be coached out of them. And that’s probably for the best — I wouldn’t recommend kids coming in with the run-up I’ve got.
‘But a lot of players do still have a natural approach to the way they play. You stick with that and just tinker with the bits around it. No one has ever tried to change my run-up either.
‘By the time I was in the professional set-up I was 21, so it was kind of set in stone by then. It’s not as much of an angle as it used to be, and it’s probably three quarters of the length it used to be as well!’
It’s a quirk that has served him well, and one that could be about to get a much wider audience if Worrall is whistled up by an England side looking to combine the out-and-out pace of Mark Wood with some of bowling’s more subtle arts as they prepare for the twin challenges of India and Australia next summer.
Worrall himself looks to the manner born on English surfaces, having been brought up on unforgiving Australian pitches back home. And it is clear which he enjoys more.
‘It’s infinitely easier bowling in England, relative to Australia,’ he says. ‘It’s not one single factor, it’s not just the Kookaburra or the Dukes ball. It’s the hardness of the outfield, the different grass — the pitches are just rock hard in Australia, and it’s 40˚C.
‘It’s a combination of factors but it’s just so much easier on the body in England.
‘Even though you do play so much more cricket, because there are so many more variables you can use to your favour in England — it might swing one day, it might nip one day, you might get more purchase from the pitch by slowing down your pace — and you get more value for skill in England than in Australia.
‘In Australia, the best bowlers have natural attributes like height and pace and get steeper bounce. You look around England and you can see the best bowlers are much more skilful.’
Worrall himself looks to the manner born on English surfaces, having been brought up on unforgiving Australian pitches back home
He would become the first player born in Australia to represent England since batsman Sam Robson (pictured) in 2014
The England side might be looking to combine the out-and-out pace of Mark Wood with some of bowling’s more subtle arts
Those talents, though, will only get you so far in an Ashes battle Down Under. Regardless of whether Worrall is on the plane next October, he believes that McCullum and Ben Stokes must find a bowling combination that can be successful in a country where England have won just two series in 45 years.
‘England are finding out who their best fast bowlers are,’ says Worrall. ‘You might have the pink-ball game in Adelaide where you need a different attack, but if you look at the Aussie attack, all these boys are 6ft 5in, bowling at high 80s or 90mph, and they don’t miss a spot. It’s all-out pace.
‘If England are going to compete, it would be helpful to have guys who can nudge 90mph.’
