Dawson returns to England squad for fourth Test against india

Spin-bowling allrounder Liam Dawson is in line to make a Test comeback after eight years after he was added to the England squad for the fourth Test against India, starting on July 23 at Old Trafford.

Dawson, who last played a Test in July 2017, comes in after offspinner Shoaib Bashir was ruled out of the remainder of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy with a fractured finger on his left hand.

Dawson has played just three Tests but has been a consistent performer for Hampshire in recent years, which fetched him the PCA Player-of-the-Year award in 2023 and 2024. In the recent County Championship, he played all nine games for Hampshire to collect 21 wickets at an average of 40.04. More recently, he turned out in the Vitality Blast, where he picked up 11 wickets in ten games.

"Liam Dawson deserves his call-up. He has been in outstanding form in the County Championship and consistently puts in strong performances for Hampshire," national selector Luke Wright said in an ECB statement.

Dawson, 35, has played all three formats for England, most recently a T20I against West Indies last month. It was in 2016 that he made his international debut in all three formats, but then fell out of favour. In an interview with ESPNcricinfo last year, Dawson had even said Test cricket was "completely off the radar" for him. He earned a T20I recall too after nearly three years, to play the three T20Is against West Indies at home recently and took home five wickets - joint-most in the series.

England currently lead the five-match series 2-1 after a dramatic end to the third Test at Lord's where Bashir took the last wicket of Mohammed Siraj to seal England's slim 22-run win.

Ben Stokes (capt), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Liam Dawson, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes