Dawson displays air of certainty and conjures one great moment on his return to Test cricket

Liam Dawson stood at his mark, ball cradled in his hands, forearms level to the ground, elbows splayed, sunglasses completely unnecessarily in place.

- Simon Burnton

Liam Dawson stood at his mark, ball cradled in his hands, forearms level to the ground, elbows splayed, sunglasses completely unnecessarily in place. There was nothing bright about the situation on this grey Mancunian afternoon except the 35-year-old's immediate future. Eight years after his last opportunity, Test cricketer once more.

Many players give umpires items of clothing to look after while they bowl; Dawson's habit was to hand Ahsan Raza something to take care of while he didn't. Those sunglasses were required only when he had the ball in his hands (and eventually, late into the last session, it became so dark he let Raza keep them). Batters seeking some kind of clue as to his thinking were certainly not going to learn anything from his eyes, not if he could help it.

On a day when one recent England spinner, Jack Leach, took the last five wickets of a six-fer in Somerset's win against Durham, another, Tom Hartley, almost doubled his career-best first-class score with 130 for Lancashire against Gloucestershire, and a third, Rehan Ahmed, trumped them both by following a century with six wickets for Leicestershire at Derby, the current pick had to make do with more high-profile but less eye-catching results. There was very little turn as Dawson made his big return, but still he eked out one great moment.