Liam Dawson and Geoffrey Boycott. These aren’t the names you’d most likely use in the same sentence. The former has played just 50 matches for England in a 10-year career, while the latter featured in 108 Test matches and scored 22 hundreds as an opener in the longest format of the sport.
Liam Dawson saves England’s blushes
But Dawson has found himself right below Boycott. How? Well, playing just his 10th ODI, the all-rounder managed to score 68 off 83 and rescue England from 107/6 to 228/7 during his stay in the middle. He batted for 22.2 overs alongside Joe Root to give the hosts a fighting chance in the India vs England 1st ODI at Edgbaston.
During the process, he became the second-oldest England batter to register a maiden ODI half-century. Alec Stewart was the oldest before him to manage a fifty in 50-over cricket. However, only Boycott stands ahead of him as the oldest maiden half-centurion. The retired opener had done so on June 23, 1979, at Lord’s against the West Indies.
Oldest batter to score maiden ODI half-century for England
- 38y 245d – Geoffrey Boycott
- 36y 135d – Liam Dawson
- 35y 331d – Wayne Larkins
- 35y 39d – Mike Brearley
Dawson didn’t play a chanceless knock. He edged a few balls. Mistimed some others and was beaten on a couple of occasions. But he managed to survive it all. When he was finally dismissed in the 44th over by Axar Patel, Dawson had faced more deliveries than Root and scored more runs.
In doing so, he found himself as one of five English batters to manage a half-century while batting at number eight or lower. Only Sam Curran, who scored 95 off 83 while batting at number eight like him, has managed more runs than him. Root remained unbeaten on 76 but ran out of partners after Dawson left him as England managed to score 151 runs for the last 4 wickets.
50+ scores at No. 8 or below for England against India in ODIs
- 52 (39) – Dimitri Mascarenhas, Bristol 2007
- 54* (38) – Ravi Bopara, Rajkot 2008
- 50 (31) – David Willey, Lord’s 2018
- 95* (83) – Sam Curran, Pune 2021
- 68 (83) – Liam Dawson, Birmingham 2026
Cricket
BCCI & Gautam Gambhir yet to sign off on Ryan ten Doeschate leaving after IND vs ENG series
