Mason Crane unperturbed by red-ball tribulations as England Lions opportunity looms large

JAMES COYNE: The Hampshire spinner sees 2020 as “a free hit” in the longer format ahead of Nathan Lyon's arrival at The Ageas Bowl

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Mason Crane returns to the scene of his Test debut with much still to prove – perhaps to himself more than anyone.

Crane catapulted to prominence at the SCG two years ago when he became the youngest specialist leg-spinner to play Test cricket for England since Ian Peebles in 1926-27.

But he finds himself miles away from Test cricket – not even selected in the four-day England Lions squad leaving for Australia this week. That leaves the four-day side without a wrist-spinner in a country with a quasi-religious fervour for leg-spin and suspicion of finger-spin.

For the moment, Crane is throwing all his weight behind white-ball cricket.

“It didn't really need explaining,” says Crane, 22. “Red-ball in the last couple of years hasn't really happened for me, so I didn’t really expect to be on it [the four-day squad].

“I still believe I can be a really good red-ball bowler. I think it's in there. It's probably going to take a bit longer than a lot of people may hope for me to get to the level I want to get to. This year for me is about me getting through the season and to the end of it.

“I played a few games [in 2019] and it didn't go great – that's not the end of the world for me. This tour, I don't think, quite frankly, I deserve to be on it, it didn't cross my mind. Obviously white-ball I've gone quite well, I'm happy to be on that and hopefully I can build on that and work my way into the red-ball stuff.”

England Lions seek to buck a trend on winter tour of Australia

Crane signed a contract extension with Hampshire at the end of 2019. But he is resigned to not playing Championship cricket in 2020, in light of Hampshire having Liam Dawson and signing Nathan Lyon – ironically enough, the bowler who has done more than anything to enhance the reputation of off-spin in Australia.

“I would maybe suggest it’s unlikely [I’ll play] considering we have Lyon. I'm pretty much prepared to just work on my game this year. It's something that's not ideal for me, but not the end of the world. I basically get a free hit for a year and I'm going to see what I can do.

“My attitude in training this winter with the red-ball, I've obviously trained as if I'm going to play, but my attitude is very much that I'm going to ride the white-ball wave and see where it takes me and try to do as well as I can, and when red-ball opportunities come I'm going to try to take them.

“I'm trying to develop new methods and new ways of going about red-ball, because what I've done in the last year especially may not have been right. I'm very open-minded when it comes to red-ball and I'm happy to try all sorts of things and try to find a way to become the most effective bowler I can be.”

Though many fans will balk at the idea that one of the country’s most promising leg-spinners cannot get a look-in at his county, Crane says he can see the logic of Lyon's arrival and wasn’t hurt by the signing.

“No, because I can understand it, I can see the rationale behind it. I can understand we have [left-arm seamer] Keith Barker who makes enormous craters for an off-spinner and that's what we don't have. I can understand that.

“I can understand that if Liam Dawson wasn't playing in the World Cup last year, I wouldn't have played very much anyway, and I can understand that when I did play, I maybe didn't cover myself in glory, so I can't complain.”

^{Crane is resigned to playing little Championship cricket in 2020 after making just six outings last term}

He says he may consider a loan deal if his game is in good enough order and he still can’t get into the Hampshire frame.

Crane blames his own fitness for not being able to sustain the longer spells of bowling required in long-form cricket. He suffered a recurrence of a stress fracture – usually more associated with quick bowlers – during the 2018 season and has been battling back ever since.

“I don't think I was fit as I could have been. I was still struggling a bit with my back. I couldn't quite bowl the pace I wanted to in a lot of the games purely because of pain and because of that I wasn't as accurate as I needed to be at that pace I was bowling.

“You look at the amount of energy produced – whether that's going fast or a twist – it's still producing a lot of energy. You’re asking a lot from your back.”

Then again, his cause is not helped by the prevailing conditions in Championship cricket. Crane supports the notion of introducing the flatter-seamed, softer Kookaburra ball into sections of the Championship as a way to rejuvenate English spin bowling.

“I think it would benefit spinners massively. Personally I think the Kookaburra ball is a great cricket ball to bowl with.

“Probably part of the reason I love bowling in Australia so much are the balls are really good. They do go soft, and that's annoying. But that's when spinners get to bowl – when the seamers don't want to.

^{Nathan Lyon's arrival at The Ageas Bowl is likely to limit his opportunities}

“The Dukes is a really good cricket ball, but it just never gets to the point where the spinners have to bowl, because you can still shine it up 65 overs in so you find yourself with a seven-over spell right before the new ball where you think 'let's just contain for a few overs and then we'll attack with the new ball'.

“I think it would benefit spinners in terms of them bowling more. Whether they would get loads more out of the pitch I couldn't really say, but probably not, because the Dukes ball is a bit harder. But they'd be bowling, so you'd have to find a way – you'd be on.

“Admittedly there are times where [a spinner] probably would rather a Duke. If you're playing on a slower wicket, which we do tend to get in England, or if you play at one of those grounds where the rough is quite dusty, where the ball tends to go down when it hits it – the Ageas, for example, is quite dusty rough so it doesn't spit.

“But it's definitely something to think about purely because the spinner would be on more, the seamers couldn't toil away all day with that.”

It is easy to forget how young Crane is – especially for a spinner. Shane Warne, after all, did not make his first-class debut until he was 21; his mentor Stuart MacGill until he was 22.

Crane feels he has room for improvement tactically and says he has sometimes been used more to run through the overs quickly to improve Hampshire’s flagging over-rate.

^{More than two years have passed since Mason Crane made his only England Test bow in Australia}

“I think a lot of the scenarios I was bowling in were for over-rate, really, because we were down on over-rate. We have guys... Fidel [Edwards] doesn't exactly sprint through his overs, so I had to bowl for over-rate and things like that.”

All this means that Crane will be throwing everything at the Lions one-day series, which starts at Carrara, Queensland, on February 2. He has good memories of Australia after breaking through into the New South Wales team ahead of the last away Ashes.

“I think Australians want to hit you over your head for six a lot of the time! From what I've seen, to seamers they want to play a big pull shot and a big drive and let you know you can't bowl anywhere and to spin they want to hit you over your head for six.

“You know it's coming more often than maybe players from other parts of the world, you know they're more likely to hit you straight as opposed to sweeping you, and that's partly because of the wickets they play on, where it's difficult to play cross-bat shots.

“I think the nature and the way the cricket goes there, for a big spinner to get a lot out of the wickets and the way Australians tend to play spin as well, they tend to attack. So if you do get good revs on the ball and you're a bit relentless all day then they will give you chances.”