Dan Lawrence aims to prove valuable against Sri Lanka for future opportunities

After spending over two years on the bench, the time has finally come for Dan Lawrence to prove himself and seal his spot in the England Test team. Even since Ben Stokes took over the captaincy, the all-rounder preferred Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett but with the prior now out injured, the door has opened for Lawrence. Ideally, he would have preferred a position in the middle order but at this moment, he is open to bat anywhere.

Lawrence will be facing the new ball in the three-match Test series against Sri Lanka. Ahead of that, the 27-year-old stated that he was waiting for an opportunity and since it has finally arrived, he will try to enjoy it and do well to put his name in the hat for future opportunities. 

“I was just waiting for an opportunity. And wherever that was, in the order, I was going to snap their hands off for it. So I'm just going to enjoy these few weeks and hopefully score some runs and put my name in the hat for future selection,” Lawrence was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

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In my first stint, I showed glimpses of what I can do: Lawrence

The Essex-born cricketer also labelled it as a fresh start. In his first stint with England team, Dan Lawrence showed promise under Joe Root but could never seal his spot. He was fairly inconsistent, which the cricketer admits but now in his immaculate maturity, Lawrence aims to be the player he previously struggled to become.

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“I think in my first stint, I showed glimpses of what I can do. I was certainly fairly inconsistent. There were definitely some glimpses of what I can do. And there was some low scores as well in there, but I think that all came with being quite young. I wasn't completely sure of my game at that time. And, yeah, I look back on it, and I've got some really good memories, and I've got some memories where I thought it was really challenging. So I'm treating this as a bit of a fresh start,” Lawrence concluded.