Dan Lawrence, England’s newest Test opener, will roll into action at Old Trafford on Wednesday, more than two years since the last of his 11 Tests. Barry Hyam has been keeping an eye on him since he turned up on the Essex age-group pathway as an under-11, the cricket-obsessed son of the Chingford groundsman, who lived in a flat above the ground and liked to doodle before he went out to bat.
It wasn’t until Lawrence got a little older that he started to stand out. “At a young age, you can see the batting talent and skill, but you can’t immediately see who is going to make it,” Hyam says.
