Seam bowler Sam Cook is another Essex player with one Test cap, and although out of action at the moment with a wrist fracture, Lever believes he will eventually be given another chance after playing against Zimbabwe in May 2025.
Lever won 21 Test caps and took 1,722 first-class wickets during his career and was surprised Cook was overlooked for England’s tour to Australia last winter.
“He’s quick enough and hits those lengths. I know they had Mitchell Starc but the others who got all the wickets were a Sam Cook type of bowler,” he said.
“I think he’s certainly one for the future.”
Essex continue their T20 Blast campaign away to Northamptonshire Steelbacks on Friday, following a three-day defeat by Nottinghamshire in the Championship.
Lever said they remain a club that punch above their weight despite being a club without the extra income from being a Test match ground and must continue to produce their own local players.
“This is why Essex have been so successful, that has been our mantra all the way through,” he said.
“We produce homegrown players – we use Suffolk and surrounding minor counties to help, and they’ve been brilliant – and it really is the way forward.
“We need overseas players, of course we do, but it’s becoming increasingly hard to get them for a whole summer and that fragments things.”
John Lever was speaking to BBC Essex sports editor Victoria Polley