Liam Dawson is the Where's Wally of English cricket. Amidst a sea of people, places, Jos Buttlers and Jonny Bairstows, he is always there. Somewhere.
As Carlos Brathwaite rained sixes into the stands at Eden Gardens in 2016, Dawson was there, sitting on the sidelines and remembering his name. The Super Over in 2019, as Buttler sprints across the outfield in celebration and throws his gloves in the air, the man running towards him is Dawson. The next day the left-arm spinner is at Downing Street, chatting away to then-Prime Minister Theresa May. For the 2021 T20 World Cup, he was a travelling reserve, and so too for England's victory in 2022. He wasn't there for the final of that one though. He left for Adelaide in the days before. Winning one World Cup from the sidelines was enough.
But now he's ready to win from the middle. Dawson's selection in the playing squad for next month's World Cup is the fifth time he has been in a World Cup squad across his career, and yet, he has never played a game.
"Obviously the older you get," Dawson said from Colombo. "Sometimes you don't expect to be involved. I'm 35 now but it's amazing to be back involved. And obviously, the World Cup is going to be a really cool occasion if I'm selected to play."
In total, Dawson has 29 white-ball caps in almost ten years. He averages a World Cup call-up for every six games he plays.
For years, Dawson's career has been a political lightning-rod for English cricket. The domestic supremo, who never reaped the international rewards. In being consistently good enough to be in England's 2nd XI, he often found himself messed around. He'd be called up for the duff white-ball series that no-one else wanted to play, but never given the opportunity to impress on the big occasion. The result was that he became one of the first players to say no to England. Tired of running drinks and being desired only when others weren't around, he turned down England's tour of Bangladesh in 2023 in favour of playing in the Pakistan Super League.
A phenomenal 2023 home summer followed, as a change to more spin-friendly conditions at the Ageas Bowl saw Dawson become a frontline weapon. He took 49 wickets at an average of exactly 20 and made 840 runs at an average of exactly 40.00. This performance, combined with England touring India for a five-match Test series shortly after, led to Dawson being asked if it'd be an easy decision to answer the call and put his England whites back on.
"To be honest," Dawson said at that year's PCA Awards, after being named as the Domestic MVP. "Probably no."
And so the back-and-forth began. As England blooded the rookie Shoaib Bashir, Dawson was at home and in franchise competitions around the world, earning his money and taking his wickets. Another phenomenal season in 2024 followed, one in which he claimed 71 wickets across formats, scored 1,280 runs and this time scooped the PCA's top honour, Men's Player of the Year, as well as being named one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year.
"When I was younger," Dawson said in his interview with the Wisden Almanack, "all I wanted to do was play for England, and that probably wasn't so healthy. I'm certainly not worried about it now. When you take something like that off your mind, it only helps your cricket."
But as England's results waned and a clamour built for the likes of Dawson and fellow domestic stalwart Sam Cook to be rewarded, Dawson returned to the public, and international, consciousness. One of Harry Brook's first acts as white-ball captain was to recall the "wily old fox" Dawson, and later that same summer, Dawson did pull on the Test whites again a full eight years after the last of his three Test caps, when he played at Old Trafford against India. That appearance, however, once again proved to be a one-off as he was then dropped for the series decider at The Oval.
"I really enjoyed it," Dawson said of his return to the arena, before adding that the prospect of nailing down a spot as England's first-choice spinner for the 2026 summer is a goal he is yet to consider.
"It's not something I've overly thought about," he said. "We've obviously got the World Cup to focus on first, then domestic cricket in England, we'll see how that goes and then see where we end up."
But for the time being, Dawson is as regular a fixture in England's white-ball teams as he ever has been. He has featured in England's last ten T20 internationals, a run of games that accounts for almost a third of the matches he has ever played for England, and even returned to the ODI fold given the spinning conditions in Sri Lanka. His pairing with Adil Rashid has become a fixture of England's white-ball plans.
"It's warming to just be able to say, 'lads you go and do your thing'," Brook said of his two spinners when England played their series in New Zealand.
At a time when England are craving consistency, Dawson could be that man across formats. It may have taken over ten years, but he is finally centre stage.