Meet the Bajan and the Brummie who are dreaming of playing international cricket together
Matt Roller30-Jul-20241:23
Bethell and Mousley’s plan to push each other to Test cricket
England will reboot their white-ball set-up in September after surrendering both world titles in the space of nine months – and two Birmingham-based allrounders are making a case for inclusion.Jacob Bethell and Dan Mousley have already played Under-19s and Lions cricket for England, and have dreams of playing a full international alongside each other before long. They are team-mates for Warwickshire and Birmingham Phoenix, and could be in direct competition for a spot: they are both left-handed, middle-order batters who bowl fingerspin.Along with Rob Yates, another young Warwickshire player who has represented England Lions, they spend a lot of time in each other’s company. “We all want the same things in the game,” Mousley says, “but by us three almost working together, it makes it a lot easier: dragging each other to the nets, doing stuff together… it’s really helped us and pushed us on.”Bethell is only 20 but has already been earmarked as a future England player for several years, and is in line for a debut against Australia later this year. If the opportunity arises, he would love to play alongside one of his close friends. “Playing for England with Dan, that’d be unreal,” he says. “We always talk about, ‘f***, in 12 months’ time, we’ll be doing that.'”Related
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Mousley, who is three years Bethell’s senior at 23, is as Midlands as they come: he has an unmistakable accent, is a big Aston Villa fan and grew up in Nether Whitacre, outside Birmingham. “He calls it the royal village, God’s country,” Bethell says, laughing. “No matter how well cricket goes, he will live in that village for [the rest of] his life.”He can be a spiky character on the field. “Dan’s the most down-to-earth, loving kind of fella away from cricket,” Bethell explains, laughing. “And then he steps on the park, and he becomes someone that you almost want to punch in the face if you’re playing against him – which is a great attribute to be able to flip in and out.”Bethell’s own background is very different to Mousley’s: he has a British passport but was born and raised in Barbados before moving to the UK and winning a scholarship to Rugby School. “It happened all very quickly,” he recalls. “I was playing for my club in Barbados and happened to play in front of a touring side from England.”And then, that September, I was on a plane and starting school at 13… Michael Powell, the director of cricket [at Rugby] has the link with Warwickshire, being a former captain. He got me over to Warwickshire, and I’ve been playing for the Bears since I was Under-14s, and worked my way back up.”Mousley has had success in the Blast for Birmingham Bears•Getty ImagesIt was not a straightforward decision to make at such a young age. “It was a bit daunting,” Bethell reflects. “But to be honest, at the time, I just got on with it. I look back on it now and I’m like, ‘jeez, did I actually just do that? Move away from the family and everyone?’ And my parents look back on it the same: they’re like, ‘we actually really let you go and do that?’ But it is probably one of the best decisions I’ve made.”Both Bethell and Mousley had breakout seasons in the T20 Blast, as Warwickshire – playing as Birmingham Bears – topped the North Group in spite of an inexperienced batting lineup. Bethell played one of the most eye-catching innings of the tournament, hitting a 15-ball 50 against Northamptonshire, but it was a recovery job that stood out to Mousley.”His knock up against Worcester: we were 10 for 3, chasing 160 [156]. I think he got 70 not out at the end and it was batting on a different planet, to be honest. That really said to me how much he’s matured. That 15-ball 50, the striking was ridiculous; I haven’t see many people strike a ball like that. But his mature knock against Worcester, I was like, ‘wow, he’s got it all.'”Mousley has relished the responsibility of batting up the order this season, after spending the winter ringing Warwickshire captain Alex Davies and asking him to come in at No. 3. “All the way through – age-group cricket, academy cricket – I’ve always been in the top four. You get in the first team, you do well at No. 6, and I didn’t really move because I’d done pretty well.Bethell playing for Warwickshire in the Championship•Getty Images”I’ve really enjoyed it. Obviously the challenge of batting at No. 3 is [the ball] does a little bit more up top. When you’re coming in at No. 6, you’re very rarely coming in during the powerplay. But it’s nice for me, having two fielders out: you can just almost play normal cricket shots, and it gives you a little bit of time to get into an innings.”He has also had success with the ball, taking 13 wickets in the Blast and conceding just 6.81 runs per over. Mousley is a uniquely quick offspinner, with an average speed around 65mph: in Saturday’s win over London Spirit, he bowled a 75mph bouncer to Andre Russell. “I’ve always had pace on my side, and I guess it’s a bit of a niche in T20 cricket,” he says.Both players are on England’s radar ahead of Australia’s white-ball tour in September, which comprises three T20Is and five ODIs. With their team-mate Moeen Ali’s international career most likely over, and Ben Stokes and Ben Duckett’s availability limited by Test commitments, Bethell and Mousley’s left-handedness should play into their favour.Their aspirations are not limited to white-ball cricket: both say, unprompted, that they have Test ambitions and see themselves as all-format players. Bethell recalls watching the Boxing Day Test from Australia on Christmas evenings growing up – “it worked nicely with the timezones” – and Mousley wanted to be like Andrew Flintoff and Ian Bell.”We speak about it all the time: we’re not one of those players who says ‘we just want to play white-ball, we just want to play red-ball’ – we want to play all three [formats],” Mousley says. “We obviously have a good relationship away from the game, but also pushing each other in training and on the pitch has really helped us.”It may not be long before it is helping England, too.