Jacob Bethell has put his hand up to be the “genuine all-rounder” England crave in the shorter formats as they seek to fill a void left by Ben Stokes.
England’s Test captain so often offers balance to the XI because of his dual roles with ball and bat, but his commitment to the red-ball side and injury troubles leaves his limited-overs future unclear.
Bethell has shone with the bat in his nascent England career, enhancing his reputation further with a composed fifty while he claimed the wicket of Shreyas Iyer in the series-opening ODI defeat to India.
Jacob Bethell, left, followed up a fifty with the wicket of India dangerman Shreyas Iyer (Aijaz Rahi/AP)
It may be asking a lot to expect him to take Stokes’ talismanic mantle right now but Bethell, 21, wants to shoulder the burden of collecting middle-order runs plus wickets with his improving left-arm spin.
With the Champions Trophy in Pakistan starting later this month and India and Sri Lanka hosting next year’s T20 World Cup, Bethell may find himself increasingly involved with the ball as well as bat.
“I’ll bat anywhere,” he said. “I started my international career in ODIs at number seven. It’s my spot in the side at the minute and I’m enjoying it.
“I see myself as a genuine all-rounder. In international cricket so far I haven’t bowled a lot of overs in T20, I bowled a few in 50-over cricket.
“It’s definitely something that I look into every time I get the chance to bowl and state my claim, and put us in a good position. It’s definitely a massive part of my package.”
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Bethell only made his England debut in September but has featured 22 times in all formats and impressed to such a degree that there is a persuasive case he should be first choice in Tests, ODIs and T20s.
He was inconspicuous in the 4-1 T20 series loss to India, missing a couple of matches due to illness, but showed his class in ODIs on Thursday with 51 off 64 balls in England’s four-wicket loss in Nagpur.
Promoted to number six ahead of Liam Livingstone, Bethell walked to the crease with England on 111 for four but after taking just eight off his first 27 balls, he went through the gears alongside captain Jos Buttler to get the tourists to 248 all out.
It was not enough but Bethell showed grit and forbearance that some of his more experienced team-mates did not.
“It was a weird start really to the tour,” Bethell said. “I never really felt like I got going in those T20s. But I did feel I was due.
“In 50-over cricket, you’ve got a bit more time to get in. I came in in a bit of a situation where we needed to rebuild and managed to do that a bit with the skipper.
“I wasn’t really too worried about the slow start. I knew that if we got to the back end I’d be able to catch up. As it happened we lost a few wickets and I wasn’t able to do it.”
Bethell, who has had his bleach blond hair shaved off recently by Saqib Mahmood, and England decamped to Bhubaneswar on Friday ahead of the second of three ODIs in neighbouring Cuttack on Sunday.
Virat Kohli, pictured, will be a team-mate of Bethell with Royal Challengers Bangalore next month (Aijaz Rahi/AP)
Following the conclusion of the Champions Trophy, Bethell is set for his first taste of the Indian Premier League next month after being snapped up by Royal Challengers Bangalore, where he will count superstar batter Virat Kohli as a team-mate.
“It’s been pretty busy,” Bethell added. “I’ve not been home for a while now but enjoying it. I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in (at the IPL).
“I met Virat for the first time (in Nagpur). After the game I just said hello.
“As soon as you play against someone you realise you’re playing the same game and they can make the same mistakes you can. (India have) obviously got a lot better at not making the mistakes. It’s cool to play against and cool to watch.”