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 switch to England in April 2025.
And with the Australians lurking 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 presents itself, I’d love to take it,” Worrall tells Mail Sport in his thick Australian accent. ‘I will do my best to act and what it will be, as long as Surrey doesn’t have a commitment!’
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) last week celebrated winning his third Division One title in three years with Surrey.
His form at Surrey has not gone unnoticed by Brendon McCullum. And England boss Rob Key confirmed in these pages last week that Worrall, 33, is on his radar to become the first Australian-born player 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 moved to England in 2008 after his progress in the New South Wales team was hampered by the presence of Usman Khawaja and the late Phillip Hughes, who 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 returned to the routine of the county circuit and subsequently failed to return to Test competition, Worrall’s performances have been too good to ignore.
In the last three seasons he has taken 139 wickets at an average of just 21, as the Brown Caps dominated the First Division.
Apart from his pace and movement, what has caught the eye is Worrall’s distinctive diagonal approach towards the wicket. It’s a career forged in Victoria when he was a child, a career based not on technique but on necessity.
“When I was a kid, if you wanted to bowl faster than you spin, you had to run around this tree at the back of the garden,” he says. ‘I didn’t really have much bowling training when I was young, so I was lucky. It seems to have worked well.
In the last three seasons he has taken 139 wickets at an average of just 21, as the Brown Caps dominated Division One.
His form at Surrey has not gone unnoticed by England coach Brendon McCullum.
And England boss Rob Key confirmed in these pages last week that Worrall, 33, is on his radar.
And with the Australians lurking in the Ashes next winter, he says he would jump at the chance to play international cricket again.
‘It probably wouldn’t happen now. Boys who are trained in the ways of the academy since their teenage years, any quirks like that would be eliminated from them. And that’s probably for the best: I wouldn’t recommend having kids arrive as early as I have.
“But a lot of players still have a natural approach to the way they play. Stick with that and just play with the parts around you. Nobody has ever tried to change my preparation either.
‘When I started on the pro team I was 21, so by then it was already set in stone. It’s not as angled as it used to be, and it’s also probably three-quarters the length it used to be!’
It’s a quirk that has served him well and could be about to gain a much wider audience if Worrall is whistled by an England team looking to combine the sheer pace of Mark Wood with some of the finer arts of bowling. . as they prepare for the twin challenges of India and Australia next summer.
Worrall himself remembers the style born on English surfaces, since in his country he grew up on the unforgiving Australian courts. And it’s clear which one you enjoy more.
“It’s infinitely easier to bowl in England than in Australia,” he says. ‘It’s not just one factor, it’s not just the Kookaburra or the Dukes dance. It’s the hardness of the gardens, the different grass: the fields are hard as rocks in Australia and the temperature is 40˚C.
“It’s a combination of factors, but in England it’s much easier on the body.
“You play a lot more cricket though, because there are a lot more variables you can use to your advantage in England – one day it might swing, one day it might clip, you might get more control of the pitch by slowing it 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 more pronounced bounce. If you look around England you will see that the best bowlers are much more skilled.
Worrall himself remembers the style born on English surfaces, having grown up in the unforgiving Australian countryside back home.
He would become the first Australian-born player to represent England since batsman Sam Robson (pictured) in 2014.
The England team could be looking to combine the sheer pace of Mark Wood with some of the finer arts of bowling.
However, those talents will only get you so far in an Ashes battle in Australia. Regardless of whether Worrall will be on the plane next October, he believes McCullum and Ben Stokes must find a bowling combination that can succeed 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 Australian attack, all these guys are 6ft 5in, bowling at 80 or 90mph and don’t lose a place. It’s a total rhythm.
“If England are going to compete it would be useful to have guys who can hit 90mph.”
