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There's something of Kevin Pietersen about Essex's Dan Lawrence. It's the confidence and the swagger. It's the runs and the eye-catching, big hundreds. Above all, though it's the way the young Essex thruster whips the ball through the leg side, perhaps not as dismissively as Pietersen used to in his pomp, but certainly with as much skill and dashing.
Pietersen saw plenty of Lawrence up close in April 2015 when the then 17 year-old scored a hundred against his Surrey team at the Oval, becoming the third youngest centurion in County Championship history. As Lawrence walked off, finally dismissed for 161 from 206 balls, Pietersen shook his hand and said well played.
Just as Pietersen was impressed on that day at the Oval, so too have England's management been in the seasons since. Lawrence, a former England Under-19 captain, played for the Lions last summer and toured with them to Australia and West Indies this winter. During their time in Australia late last year, head coach Andy Flower surprisingly asked Lawrence to captain the side in a T20 match against a Western Australia XI.
"Flower just said to me one afternoon; "Do you fancy captaining tomorrow?" And I was like, yeah why not?" Lawrence tells Cricbuzz. The Lions won by nine wickets and Graham Thorpe, the Lions batting coach, was impressed by the Essex man's certainty in leading a team full of players older and more experienced. Lawrence was just happy to get the win. "I'm one from one, 100% record and then retired from there so it was all good," he jokes.
Unfortunately, after missing out on selection for the first two matches of the 'Test' series against West Indies 'A' earlier this year, a fractured right hand ruled Lawrence out of the third match of that horrid series for the Lions when he was due to play. Despite that, he says he got a lot out of the Lions experience this winter and improved his game.
He also played for the senior England XI against a Cricket Australia XI in Perth between the second and third Ashes Test match, making 20 and 15. "It was good to work with some different coaches and see what they think of you," Lawrence says. "I thoroughly enjoyed it, I got to travel to some of the best places in the world and that was a massive tick. It was obviously frustrating injuring my hand but that's life and thankfully it wasn't too long out."
Lawrence, now back fully fit and ready for the opening match against Yorkshire, made three Championship hundreds last season and averaged 44.76 which, for his first season in the top flight, was evidence enough of his rich potential. He certainly hit the ground running. In Essex's first match of the campaign against Lancashire, they were up against it going into the final day but managed to hold on for a draw thanks to a seven hour stay from Lawrence who made 141 not out and repelled James Anderson.
Chris Silverwood, Essex's Head Coach at the time, believes that was one of the key moments in Essex's season. A teenager leading from the front, standing up to one of the best bowlers in the world and proving that the county could mix it with the big boys.
This year, the challenge is different. Not an unknown anymore, bowlers will be targeting Lawrence in different ways. "I've got quite a simple game plan and I feel like during the winter, I actually got better and developed more areas of my game," he says. "If they come up with different plans then I'm sure I'll be able to cope with that. I'm confident that if I have a decent start and get myself in, I can score a lot of runs."
He has been working on "a few technical bits, keeping it quite simple" during the winter. "I know I'm quite young but I feel like I know my game quite well now so I know what works for me, how I need to train and if I carry on what I've done well and keep improving that then I'm sure I can be more successful. I know I scored a few hundreds in the end but I still felt like I left a lot of runs out there last season so this year I need to be more ruthless and I'm going to try and push on to lots of big scores."
Lawrence's runs are all the more eye catching because he scores them with a different sort of technique to the high left elbow types taught in English coaching manuals. A very low grip on the bat, bottom hand dominant with a high backlift and a big step across his stumps before the bowler bowls, Lawrence manages to get balls through the leg-side that others would be looking to hit on the off.
"He has got a different way but I think that's fantastic," new Head Coach Anthony McGrath tells Cricbuzz. "I'd never look to change that as a coach. He's batted like that since he was young so it's mainly the tactical stuff more than the technique. We get criticised in this country for not encouraging different techniques but if you look around different countries, there tend to be superstars who do it differently.
"That's the great thing about cricket, there's not just one way to do it and Dan's been very successful in his young career so far. I've no doubt that if he keeps his work ethic, his natural talent and technique will allow him to be successful. It's not about how you look. It's about how many runs you score and that's certainly what we judge him on."
Being judged is something that the likes of Lawrence and fast-bowler Jamie Porter are going to increasingly have to live with. "Whether we won the league or not, it's always an important year for individuals," McGrath says. "When you do have a good year, there's the expectation and you've got to do it again.
"When you win things, players become more recognised and players become more noticed so that comes with the territory. I know from being here three years now what good players we've got and now other people are noticing how good they are. That's going to be the norm for them now and they've just got to keep working as they are."
As well as retaining those that were part of the Championship success last season, Essex have brought in some new faces. All-rounder Matt Coles has joined from Kent and Australian Peter Siddle and New Zealander Neil Wagner will provide high-class overseas support in the Championship. Former England limited overs international Dimi Mascarenhas has also arrived as assistant head coach with a remit to look after the bowlers following Silverwood's elevation to the role of bowling coach for the national team.
"I think it is [stronger]," says McGrath of the current squad. "We managed to get everyone signed up again which was really important. Experience wise, our squad tends to be either very young or towards the older end so the younger guys have got that year experience and also have been around a winning side for the last two years which is really important.
"The additions of Matt Coles, Peter Siddle and the other overseas guys as well, I'm really pleased with the squad we've got. It's not just the Championship we are targeting - we really want to be competitive in all three forms."
"It's great because there's a lot of fight for places in our team now which we haven't really had for the last few years," adds Lawrence. "We've got a similar group of players and some better additions. I'm actually not sure what our starting eleven is going to be so it's going to be an interesting one."
Winning the Championship last year straight after promotion the season before was a remarkable feat but retaining it this season would, in many ways, be an even better achievement. Not that Essex are getting too far ahead of themselves. "We haven't really talked much about it," says McGrath.
"The only thing we have talked about is matching the work rate and the intensity we showed last year. We've looked to improve as individuals and I believe if you look to do that, you'll improve as a team. We've not really mentioned defending the title."
Not that that should be construed as a lack of belief. Lawrence, like with bat in hand, is bullish in his assessment that Essex can retain the Championship. "I don't see why we can't repeat what we did last year," he says. "Obviously going unbeaten and winning ten games again might be a bit unrealistic and it's going to be a tough ask to repeat that but if we perform like we can, we will be right up there again."
And what about his England chances? "I'm not really thinking about that. If I happen to do well and then I have that phone call, I'd be over the moon but I'm honestly not thinking about that at the moment. I just want to start well for Essex and then if anything else happens, that will be a bonus."
Whether it's this season or one in the future, Lawrence would do well to keep his phone on. The England call will surely come soon enough.
(CRICBUZZ)
