Dan Mousley’s first England wicket encapsulated the qualities that have got him to the international stage. Spearing the ball in from around the wicket at 72.7mph, Mousley knocked out Rovman Powell’s middle stump with a yorker at Kensington Oval. Then, he celebrated with a gusto that showed his combativeness.
Historically, England have tended to produce orthodox bowlers, rather than those with unique traits that are so essential in white-ball cricket. The excitement around Mousley reflects how he gives England a bowler with a distinctive threat. International batsmen will face tens of thousands of deliveries in their careers; they will probably not face anyone who resembles Mousley, a curious hybrid of spin and seam.
“It’s a different skill – it’s probably not traditional off-spin,” Mousley said. “It’s one of those things which I’ve just learnt to bring into my favour and it’s OK to be different as a bowler. I play on small boundaries at Edgbaston and a big boundary one side, you have to learn to adapt.
“They say off-spinners can’t bowl at right-handers but I don’t believe in that, I made it clear at Warwickshire I didn’t believe in that and then ended up getting a bit of confidence. It went from there.”
Growing up in Nether Whitacre, a village north-east of Birmingham, there have been two sporting constants in Mousley’s life: playing cricket and watching Aston Villa, where he has had a season ticket since the age of three. He counts seeing the win over Bayern Munich this year among his most cherished memories.
That list might soon need updating. Over the weekend at Kensington Oval, Mousley’s parents sat next to Jacob Bethell’s. At Warwickshire, the two all-rounders, who both bat left-handed and bowl spin, have become close friends, rising in tandem: aged 23, Mousley is two years older than Bethell. In Barbados, Bethell’s 58 not out was crucial to England’s win on Saturday; Mousley’s two for 29 from four overs then helped them to victory on Sunday.
“We’ve grown up together,” Mousley said. “We drag each other around at Edgbaston and just try to get better and use each other to bounce ideas off.
“It’s special playing with him, especially on his home ground. He obviously gets to do it with me at Edgbaston and it’s nice to come here on his ground and play with him.”
Throughout age-group cricket, including with England Under-19s, Mousley persisted with his idiosyncratic method. While spinners bowling it quicker and flatter has been effective in T20, Mousley is at the very extreme of the trend. His darting style has been compared to Danny Briggs and Michael Yardy, but Mousley bowls significantly faster than both.
“As a kid, it was always: ‘You need to bowl slower.’ Then you get to professional cricket and sometimes the pace really helps you. It’s something I’ve always had, it’s just trying to keep to my advantage. It’s not something I’ve really worked on, it’s something I’ve been lucky to have and try to use it in my armoury.”
In this year’s Hundred, Mousley came on with Birmingham Phoenix defending 10 off the last 10 balls against Trent Rockets, who had five wickets in hand. Mousley delivered a series of yorkers, bowled all 10 deliveries straight through, took three wickets and conceded just three runs. The performance accelerated his elevation to international cricket.
“England have been nothing but brilliant to me. Both here and at Warwickshire, they just let me go and play how I play and I use it to my advantage.”
Mousley’s performance could yet help to shape the development of England’s T20 side. With Ben Stokes unlikely to be around much – if at all – in the format again, England crave an all-rounder in the top seven who can bowl pace.
For all the difficulties in classifying Mousley, he relishes bowling overs that are generally the preserve of pace bowlers. He was entrusted to bowl the last over of the innings in Barbados, a role that he has often performed in domestic cricket. Like West Indies’ Akeal Hosein, he is also adept bowling with the new ball. And so while Mousley is not technically a seamer, in T20 cricket he can be used much like one. At No 7, followed by three seamers and Adil Rashid, Mousley can provide balance to the batting and bowling line-ups alike.
“He can bowl with the new ball, in the middle or at the death,” explained captain Jos Buttler. Yet he sees Mousley’s most important quality as his relish for high octane moments. “I like his character. He always seems to want those situations.”
Mousley has already provided a glimpse of his batting qualities in the Caribbean, making 57 in the third one-day international. He considers himself “a genuine all-rounder” in the white-ball game, though his bowling is less effective in red-ball cricket.
These disparate skills add up to a player with an unusual array of gifts. It is not yet clear how Mousley’s England career will develop. Finding out, you suspect, will be fun.
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