Dawson lurks in the wings as England narrow World Cup options

LONDON: After a winter of match-winning performances with both bat and ball for his various T20 franchises, Liam Dawson could be forgiven for being confident about his World Cup chances.A series of characteristically solid displays with his left-arm spin for Comilla Victorians preceded a handful of eye-catching knocks in the Pakistan Super League, including a match-winning fifty that must have reminded England's selectors of his ability as a batsman.But despite admitting he'd love to play in the tournament, England's Mr. Dependable insists that his focus is on Hampshire for the time being. Teams must submit their provisional 15-man World Cup squads by April 30, and while the narrative around the battle for positions has focused on their various seam options, Dawson looks set for a straight shoot-out with Joe Denly for the backup spot as a spin-bowling all-rounder."I haven't really thought about [World Cup selection]" he insists. "It isn't something that's on my mind. I've got to concentrate on what I do for Hampshire. He was named in the squad to tour Sri Lanka at the start of the winter. He was picked alongside Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid for the first two ODIs of the series, but a side strain ruled him out for the rest of the tour, with Denly named as his replacement."It was frustrating to get injured in Sri Lanka," Dawson admits."But it's part of the game." Indeed, Dawson was not sat at home resting on his laurels. Instead, he was helping Peshawar Zalmi to the final of the Pakistan Super League, and proved his worth with the bat."Pakistan was electric. The atmosphere was brilliant, and exciting to play in front of. I had a pretty solid tournament, a couple of match-winning performances, which is always what you want for the team, so I was happy with that."

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