New Delhi, March 27 England batter Dan Lawrence said it would have been pretty silly of him to have turned down the chance of opening the batting for the side in Tests, a role which he never played before in his first-class career.
With Zak Crawley ruled out of England’s series against Sri Lanka due to a broken finger, Lawrence, the reserve batter in the squad, was promoted to open the batting alongside Ben Duckett. But Lawrence couldn’t make the most of the opportunity by amassing only 120 runs in six innings and was left out of England’s tours to Pakistan and New Zealand.
"No, I disagree. I think I would have felt hard done by had I not gone and opened the batting, having been around the team for that long. If someone says, 'Do you want to go and open the batting for England?' I don't think it's an unfair thing. It's an honour and a really exciting thing to go and do," Lawrence was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo on Thursday.
"It didn't pan out, but if it did, then who knows where I would be right now. I've said before that, if England asked me to bat at number 11, I would. It's everyone's dream to play for England. Although it was a position that was a little bit alien to me, I got the chance to play, and I would have been pretty silly to turn it down," he added.
Asked about his experience of being in the England set-up under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, Lawrence remarked, "Baz and Stokesy run a brilliant ship. It's a brilliant balance of when you're away from cricket, enjoying and not thinking about cricket too much, then when you're there, your business is your business. You get it done and have some fun along the way. It's a great environment and, from the results they've got, something is working."
Lawrence, 27, signed off by saying he still has got it in him to play for England in Tests and in the white-ball side, which is going through a transitional period.
"I've still got aspirations to do a lot of things in the game. Play for England in white-ball, play in the IPL, get my Test spot back and prove to myself I'm a good enough Test player. It's really exciting," he added.
"When I first started, the white-ball team was incredibly hard to get into, a brilliant side that was winning all the time. Now there's an opportunity to put my name in the mix. There are some serious players, but no reason why I can't be involved in that conversation."
"We've (also) got an exciting summer coming up this year against India, then a really exciting winter with the Ashes. It's been building up for 18 months to these two big series. I'm still holding out hope that if I get the runs on the board and take a few wickets, maybe I can sneak my way onto the tour," he concluded.
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