Barbados kid leading next generation in all formats

Jacob Bethell is starring for England in the West Indies with his flamboyant style and has a big future in the Test game

- RICHARD EDWARDS

“I remember having two references on my desk – one from Sir Garry Sobers and the other, I can’t recall whether it was [Desmond] Haynes or [Gordon] Greenidge, but it was definitely one of them,” laughs Michael Powell.

The former Warwickshire batter was director of cricket at Rugby School when Jacob Bethell’s application arrived on his desk. Unsurprisingly, given the names involved, it didn’t take him long to realise he had someone extraordinary coming his way from Barbados. And then he saw him play.

“I’ve known him since he was an 11-year-old, and I might be slightly old school but having watched him for all that time, I’ve always seen him as a Test player,” says Powell, no doubt pleased that England’s hierarchy appear to agree with that assessment, given Bethell’s Test call-up for the tour of New Zealand last week.

“He has fantastic hands. He has got a rhythmical swing of the bat, and that’s born out of him hitting balls in his backyard on the end of a rope swing for hours and hours. It’s ingrained in him. The moment I saw him I just thought, ‘you’ve been born with a bat in your hand, it’s in your blood’. He has grown up with that great West Indian heritage, and wanting to emulate [Brian] Lara and co.”

Bethell, who grew up in Barbados before gaining a cricket scholarship at the age of 12, is very much at the vanguard of the next generation of players in this new England era.

Given his versatility with the ball, alongside his skill with bat in hand, he could be a fixture across all formats for the next decade and beyond.