Liam Dawson was already on Hampshire's books when, in the winter of 2007-08, the county lost the services of both Shane Warne and Shaun Udal to leave their spinning cupboard distinctly bare. At the time, Dawson's left-arm spin was his primary role, but with increasingly proficient batting performances - and the emergence of another young left-armer, Danny Briggs -he developed first into an all-rounder and then, in 2011, into an opening batsman.

Such was Dawson's youthful talent, he was called up by England Under-19s as a 16-year-old for the tour of Malaysia in 2006-07 and had made both List A and first-class debuts before his 18th birthday. He impressed against Pakistan in the 2007 summer, where his spin bowling collected wickets and maintained control during the two-Test series. He was selected for England's Under-19 World Cup squad in 2008, and after another promising county summer, which included a maiden first-class century on the final day of season against Nottinghamshire, was named captain of the Under-19 side for their trip to South Africa. His fast-track progress through the ranks continued with a place on the England Lions tour of New Zealand in January 2009, and he was soon established as a Hampshire regular in all formats.

An illness suffered by Michael Carberry created a vacancy at the top of the order in 2011 - and Dawson filled it sufficiently well to retain an opening role even when Carberry returned. A Championship five-for, against Leicestershire, early in the 2012 season reminded everyone that he could still bowl a bit as well.
ESPNcricinfo staff