Test batters will tell you how they didn\u2019t feel they \u201cbelonged\u201d until they had made a century. That the longer they had to wait to cross the Rubicon of three figures the more it weighed them down. Lawrence has played 17 Tests for England since his first call-up in 2021. It has been a career of fits and starts, the former through no fault of his own, the past five years have seen him bat at Nos 7, 6, 5, 4 and 3 as well as a doomed stint as a makeshift opener. It\u2019s those starts that will eat away at him though.<\/p>\n
Lawrence is a wonderful cricketer to watch, all quicksilver wrists and homespun swagger with the bat while his jerky, \u201cjudderman\u201d off-spin bowling and razor-sharp fielding make him an asset to any side.<\/p>\n
In 2021, he made a plucky 73 in his very first Test dig<\/a> on a spinning pitch in Galle. He was left unbeaten on 81 not out at Edgbaston against New Zealand that summer. The following March he got within a few strokes of a century in Barbados but plinked an easy catch to cover in the last over of the day<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dan Lawrence came frustratingly close to a century in Barbados in 2022. Photograph: Jason Cairnduff\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n Lawrence knows how to score centuries. As a 17-year-old in 2015 he became the third-youngest player to make a County Championship century when he scored 161 for Essex against Surrey. Before his recall to the Test setup for the Pakistan series this summer he made five centuries in Division One of the championship including a double hundred against Hampshire.<\/p>\n Against Pakistan he made half-centuries in each Test, at Edgbaston he was player of the match for his runs, two wickets and a sublime diving catch. No doubt he\u2019d give all that up and then some to have made a better decision when set on 65 and a maiden Test ton in his sights. England were in complete command \u2013 ahead by 160 runs and with Pakistan\u2019s makeshift bowling attack there for the taking. Getting to three figures would have nailed down Lawrence\u2019s place for the foreseeable with plenty of competition for Test batting places.<\/p>\n \u201cThe personal milestone achieved within a team game is one of cricket\u2019s distinctive charms\u201d writes Andy Zaltzman on the century. \u201cWith few if any parallels in any other sport \u2026 the transition from a two-figure to a three-figure score is cricket\u2019s signature individual triumph. It carves an immutable notch in a player\u2019s history and, at the highest level, an eternal legacy in the annals of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n This summer\u2019s series against Pakistan yielded precisely zero hundreds from either side, the first time a series in England (of at least three matches) hasn\u2019t featured a century since 1888. Do we put too much emphasis on them? Perhaps. Ben Duckett is England\u2019s only centurion this Test summer but his form has fallen off a cliff since tonning up at Trent Bridge against New Zealand<\/a>. By the time Harry Brook lands in South Africa for the series beginning in December he won\u2019t have made a Test century in 17 months \u2026 yet he has been England\u2019s most consistent performer with the bat in that period and averages 53.<\/p>\n
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