Eight years on from his only Test cap, Mason Crane is doing his best to change the story. April and May in England are not the natural habitat for leg-spinners, but he’s giving it a good crack.
By taking six wickets in Glamorgan’s victory over Hampshire last week, Crane didn’t just play a central role in their first win in division one of the County Championship for 21 years, he threw his name into an increasingly large hat. Who, in other words, will be England’s next Test spinner?
For the moment, at least, it is unlikely to be Crane, even though he began today’s round of matches as the top tier’s joint-leading wicket-taker, with 17.
He has not heard from the England hierarchy since he played for the Lions in Sri Lanka in early 2023, and doesn’t expect to be named next week in the squad for the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s. But the fact that he is even being mentioned in dispatches is, as he puts it, ‘a big win in itself’.
Now 29, Crane is enjoying his cricket more than ever, and feels part of the Glamorgan side in a way he never quite achieved during nine seasons at Hampshire. He understands his game far better than when he was picked at the age of 20 in Sydney for the last Test of the 2017-18 Ashes, and hasn’t given up hope of resurrecting his England career.
‘I’d love to play, absolutely,’ he tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘That’s the dream for anyone. When I got my first cap, my aim was to get a second.’
Mason Crane has put himself back in England contention after a fine start to the County Championship season, taking 17 wickets in his first four matches
It is eight years since Crane won his one and only Test cap in the Ashes – a chastening experience at the Sydney Cricket Ground
But the intervening years have not always been easy. The expectation generated by his solitary Test cap weighed heavily on his shoulders, and English cricket has traditionally been suspicious of leg-spin, preferring the orthodoxy of off-breaks and medium-pace. To Crane’s credit, he has retained his perspective and his humour.
‘I would love to play that game now,’ he says of the Sydney Test, when he returned figures of one for 193 in an innings defeat. ‘I’d be a lot more confident I could perform.
‘People do need a bit of time. Sometimes naivety is a great thing, and shoving guys in young is good. I wouldn’t swap my Test cap for the world. But, ultimately, having been one of the guys where that hasn’t been the start of a long international journey, and knowing what I know now, I’d love to have another go.’
What, exactly, does he know now that he didn’t while he was being milked at four an over by Usman Khawaja (his only Test wicket, stumped for 171), Steve Smith and the Marsh brothers, Shaun and Mitchell?
‘I know my action a lot better,’ he says. ‘If I bowl a bad ball, it doesn’t take me a few more to get back on track. I’m clearer on what I’m trying to achieve, how I’m trying to get each batter out. And I feel a lot calmer now when I’m on the pitch.’
The repercussions of his Sydney appearance dragged on. He was injured soon after and, when he returned, people expected too much.
‘I was a 21-year-old who hadn’t played for a year. That was always going to be really hard work for me, and it probably set me back after the injury. One for 193 makes it quite tough to be picked again immediately. If I hadn’t got injured, maybe that would have helped. We’ll never know. But, yeah, in the subsequent years, that Test has potentially gone against me.’
Crane celebrates his solitary Test wicket, as Usman Khawaja is stumped for 171
‘I know that golden pot at the end of the rainbow… it’s an amazing thing to represent your country’
England’s cricketing culture hasn’t helped. No England leg-spinner has taken more Test wickets than the 66 managed by Kent’s ‘Tich’ Freeman, who played his last game in 1929. And risk-averse county captains prefer the devil they know.
‘It’s an attitude thing,’ says Crane. ‘If there’s a 50-50 call between a medium-pacer and a spinner, generally it’s going to be the medium-pacer. Some teams even have a sixth seamer. And I’d just like the attitude to be, actually, there’s a role for a spinner, because on a lot of pitches the spinner ends up bowling slightly more than you think.’
But experience has taught him there’s little point grumbling, and he still treasures his Test cap.
‘The bonus of having played so young is I know how good it is,’ he says. ‘I know that golden pot at the end of the rainbow. If I finish my career and that’s my Test match, then fair enough. At the end of the day, it’s an amazing thing to represent your country.’
