Dan Lawrence ready to put rollercoaster year behind him as the bright lights of Test cricket circle

NICK HOWSON: As the Essex batsman prepares for his biggest challenge yet he is unwilling to compromise on the technique which has brought him to this point

A first-class century in Australia. In and out of the England bubble.The loss of his mother. A domestic final appearance at Lord's. Two weeks in hotel quarantine. Even in the whirlwind that was 2020, Dan Lawrence was pulled through it backwards.

Nevertheless, it is a testament to the character of the 23-year-old that he now stands on the brink of an international debut against Sri Lanka in Galle. It would be the perfect way to put a turbulent chapter of his life behind him.

"It was a very strange year for my for a number of reasons," he said. "I started really well in Australia (scoring 125 for the Lions against Australia A at the MCG) and I was on a massive high. 

"Covid hit and we couldn't play cricket for three months so I had to get back down to earth a little again. I got into the bubble with the England boys which I was really enjoying. 

"Mum was ill for a couple of years so as sad as it was I was already prepared. I had mentally prepared myself for the worst happening. As hard as it was that made things quite tough for a couple of months. 

"It was lovely going back to Essex around all of my good mates who I needed at that time. They were all fantastic. I went to Australia for five weeks (to play for Brisbane Heat in the Big Bash League), had the challenge of quarantining for two weeks which is not something which I'd want to do again. Played a few games over there and now I'm here. 

^{Lawrence's career highlight came last winter in Melbourne}

"It has been a bit of a roller-coaster but if I play on Thursday hopefully it will be a brilliant start to what will hopefully be a better year."

If selected either over the next fortnight or when England go to India in February and March, it will be the litmus test for Lawrence's ungainly technique which has taken him to 10 first-class centuries, two County Championship titles and a Bob Willis Trophy with Essex.

Scrutiny on that approach, already intense on the county circuit, is likely to swell upon Lawrence's arrival onto the England stage. Admirably, there will is no temptation to abandon an method which has taken him to this point.

"I'm a big one for trying to do things in my own (way), what you could call unique, but it is not to me," he explained. "It is trying to stick to my guns and to what I have done to be successful so far. 

"I don't want to come into an England environment and completely change everything because that wouldn't be true to myself. A big thing is about having confidence in my own game that I can be really successful at this level, it is about actually going and doing it now. 

^{The Essex man's discipline has already been tested this winter after two weeks in quarantine in Australia}

"If I get the nod then hopefully I can be true to myself and go out there and express myself and not sit in a hole or let the situation get too much for me. The confidence in my own game is quite a big strength of mine."

Lawrence added: "I've had a big technical change over the last 12 months. When I was playing for Essex I was triggering too much and I was getting out in ways that I shouldn't have done. I've really simplified it down and really feel confident in my new technique. I feel I can be successful it is just getting out there and doing it now really."

Despite an upbringing, which began at Chingford and included a first-class debut for Essex aged 17, mostly against a laterally moving Dukes, Lawrence is more than prepared for an examination against the spinning ball in the sub-continent.

"The good thing about the whole England set-up and growing up with the Lions is that you get experiences in Asia," he said. "We had a spin camp in India where I learnt a lot and wrote a lot of stuff down. I went back to that just to sort of refresh the brain of how I went about things.

"The biggest thing is going to be the heat and to concentrate for long periods of time. You talking about Cookie (Essex teammate Sir Alastair Cook) and that was arguably his biggest strength, being able to bat long periods of time and to concentrate. 

"That's what I will be trying to do. The game in Australia last year that was brilliant. That tour set me up and I was determined to do well and thankfully I did."