Mason Crane and the frustrations of 2018: The world does just carry on, whether you’re there or not

NICK FRIEND: Crane describes his situation as “an opportunity missed” – not with a hint of arrogance or resentment, but with the confidence of a desperately talented youngster whose debut left him craving more

It was almost a year ago that Mason Crane made his Test debut, striding out at the Sydney Cricket Ground to become England’s youngest spinner for 90 years – a title, 11 months on, now held by Dom Bess.

If it was fitting that Crane should make his Ashes bow at a venue where he had appeared for New South Wales the previous year – becoming the first overseas player to do so since Imran Khan, there is also a symbolic irony in Bess’s usurping of the Hampshire leg-spinner’s record – by 154 days.

For, by his own admission, Crane has enjoyed – and endured – a fairly extraordinary period. “It has been a whirlwind,” he reflects. “It’s just crazy for someone of my age to have experienced it all.”

A surprise T20 international debut against South Africa brought the prize maiden scalp of AB de Villiers. Six months later, having already been part of the squad for the Test series victory over the West Indies, he would be handed his cap by Graeme Swann at the SCG.

^{Mason Crane walks out for his Test debut at the SCG}

Yet, after suffering a stress fracture in his lower back ahead of the post-Ashes tour to New Zealand, a reoccurrence of the injury restricted Crane to just eight Royal London One-Day Cup appearances this year. As Crane points out, Hampshire would go onto win the competition – the only one in which he was fit to feature. It is a silver lining on a frustrating summer.

As we chat, Crane’s confidence is a constant – a necessary quality for a young man performing the sport’s toughest art. More so, however, what shines through is an impressive maturity as he juggles last season’s highs with the lows of a year that, in his own mind, was meant to provide a breakthrough.

“It is really frustrating,” he admits. “I came into this year, looking at it as a really good opportunity for me to try and kick on and to try and force myself into that Test squad regularly – both home and away.

“It is tough being injured. You’re easily forgotten about when you’re on the sidelines. When you are playing and doing well, it’s obviously fantastic.

“But it is a sport of extremes – you’re absolutely on top of the world when you’re doing well, but when you’re injured or when things are not going quite as well, it is as if you’re not even there.”

After the whirlwind of his 2017 rise, he confesses that his fractured summer led to a fear of being forgotten. Since the back problem ruled him out of the two-Test New Zealand tour, Jack Leach, Moeen Ali, Bess and Adil Rashid have all featured in the national red-ball side.

"I don’t think – in a cricketing sense – there’s anything much harder that I’ll ever have to overcome than that"

He describes his situation as “an opportunity missed” – not with a hint of arrogance or resentment, but with the confidence of a desperately talented youngster whose debut left him craving more.

“It’s difficult because the world does just carry on, whether you’re there or not,” he explains, complete with a wise appreciation of professional sport’s harsh truths.

“It’s the worst thing ever being told that you’re going to be out for three or four months because everything else just carries on as if you didn’t really matter at all. It is hard to deal with at the start, but it really is something that helps you to grow up as well.

“It has definitely toughened me up as a person and as a cricketer. I don’t think – in a cricketing sense – there’s anything much harder that I’ll ever have to overcome than that. If anything, I have got a newfound respect for players who do spend a lot of time injured because coming back and starting again is hard.”

When Crane does return – and he believes his recovery is going according to plan, he will do so fully aware of his own talents. His first professional wicket was that of Kumar Sangakkara – albeit with the rankest of full-tosses; the scalp of De Villiers – caught on the square-leg boundary after a brief onslaught – gave him a first England wicket.

Usman Khawaja would eventually become Crane’s maiden Test victim. It sits as an understandable highlight of an unforgettable tour for the Hampshire spinner, even if the final scoreline is one that he would rather erase.

“I wouldn’t swap the experience for the world,” he reflects. “I’d much rather say that I played in that final Test match than not played in it. I will never forget it. It was an amazing time, and looking back now, you just kind of wish that you could relive it.”

It is a refreshing review of an experience that might well have chastened lesser characters. England lost by an innings, while Crane bowled 48 overs for the solitary reward of Khawaja.

Crane has one Test wicket to his name

Anyone that watched the 288 deliveries sent down by Crane, however, will appreciate the relative falsity of the statistics. If anything, he explains, it was a personal performance that reinforced his belief in his own ability.

“The stats are one thing and you can look into them, but I’m not a stats person at all and I really don’t care,” he says.

“What I learnt from the 50-odd overs I bowled was that I feel that I can do it at that level.

“I thought I bowled quite well and deserved a lot more at times. Obviously, there are balls I’d love to take back and have another go at again, but I reckon twice in my career I’ve walked away and thought I couldn’t have bowled any better. There is room for improvement, but for a first game I was content with how they came out.

“The good thing for me is that I know I can do it and the confidence I took from that and from being around all the best players in the world for that three-month period was just invaluable as an experience. If I ever find myself in a similar situation, it will be a lot easier because of that.”

If there is a regret, it’s that the wicket of Khawaja didn’t come earlier, with a controversial no-ball call seeing Crane denied by the third umpire. It is a moment that still rankles; Crane still maintains that part of his boot was behind the line.

“I still look at it now and can’t see how it was given,” he sighs with a wry chuckle. “But that’s not my decision. If I’m being honest, I should never be that close.”

Listening to the Hampshire man talk about his skillset is fascinating. In amongst his list of successes, it is easy to forget quite how young he remains.

"I don’t want to be a single-format bowler. The goal is to play as much Test cricket as possible and that will always be my focus"

Shane Warne was two years older when he played his first Test, while Yasir Shah was 28. Meanwhile at county level, Crane is only the third specialist leg-spinner to represent Hampshire in four-day cricket this century – after Warne and South Africa’s Imran Tahir. He is in good company.

A veteran of just 32 first class appearances, he speaks with a fabulous combination of self-awareness and inner belief. By nature, the psyche of the English cricketing nation is obsessed with the notion of leg-spin – filled both with intrigue and an inherent distrust.

What is so enthralling as he discusses his craft is the clarity of thought involved. There is no doubting of himself, but rather a total comprehension of his own pathway – both of where it has taken him thus far, and of where Crane intends to go next.

“I really don’t buy into the idea of being a luxury,” he says in response to the leg-spinner’s stereotype – hidden until the appearance of footmarks, then saddled with the expectation of fourth innings wickets.

“My job is to try and become a top bowler – someone who can attack in the second innings and bowl a lot of dot balls in the first. I don’t see myself as a luxury and I don’t think any bowler should aim to be that.

“I have to be as good as a leg-spinner can be as an attacking option, but I also have to be as accurate as an off-spinner.” It is a lovely line – a mantra that demands perfectionism.

“There is always a bit of pressure on us as spinners,” Crane acknowledges. “Someone sees a ball spin and then everyone looks at you, as if they’re saying that it’s now your job to bowl them out.”

For Crane though, the pressure – messianic, at times – of becoming the leg-spinner for so long craved by English cricket is part of the fun.

The youngster has struggled with a back injury in 2018

“I’m quite a confident guy and so I do arrive at most games fairly positive that I’m going to do the business, whether it’s expected of me or not. It’s a mentality that I’ve always had really.

“I don’t want to be a single-format bowler. The goal is to play as much Test cricket as possible and that will always be my focus.

“There’s definitely a different kind of leg-spinner now – that T20 kind of bowler. That’s not something I want to do though. There is a place for those guys, especially in one-day cricket. It’s a lot harder to hit them, but we will have to wait and see how well guys like Rashid Khan do in the long form. Nobody really knows if that works in that format yet.”

As for his own future, he is well aware of the challenges he faces – not only in regaining his fitness, but in reaching the levels that saw him picked for three successive Test series before injuries intervened.

SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER

“It’s actually the biggest thing I’ve learnt from being injured,” he confesses. “That it can go the other way as well, and the speed at which that can all be undone.

“You rise up and play international cricket and then suddenly you’re not involved and you see how quickly people almost forget about what you’ve achieved.”

Equally impressive both on and off the pitch, Crane possesses the tools to ensure that he remains in the thoughts of both county and country. A likeable mixture of self-assurance and self-awareness, it is tough not to root for him – a young man looking to master the game’s most thrilling art.

“The goal is to play for England in any format as many times as I can,” he says as we finish. “But, looking backwards from that, I have to perform as well as I possibly can in county cricket for Hampshire; and then moving back from that, it is all about getting over this injury and improving.

“Then in a few years, I’ll be able to look back at this period as a minor blip. That’s the goal and I’ll be working very hard to achieve that.”