- His solitary cap sits in his bedroom at home, a reminder of four unexpected days at the Oval and perhaps a source of inspiration for a Test career to come
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Six months on from the Test pick that left English cricket speechless, Josh Hull is still pinching himself at the madness of it all.
His solitary cap sits in his bedroom at home near Oundle, a reminder of four unexpected days at the Oval against Sri Lanka – and a source of inspiration, perhaps, for a Test career to come.
The good news is that England don’t do one-cap wonders like they once did; including Hull, there are only seven still playing county cricket. Besides, he’s had a taste of the big time now, and he has no intention of remaining part of that exclusive club.
Until his selection in September, Bazball’s wackiest call-up had been off-spinner Shoaib Bashir, who travelled to India in early 2024 with a c.v. boasting 10 first-class wickets at 67.
But Hull trumped even that. Aged just 20, his County Championship numbers for Leicestershire last summer at the point he was selected were two wickets at an average of 182.
It became the headline number, even though it overlooked the five he had taken for England Lions against the Sri Lankans at Worcester, including the experienced middle-order trio of Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal and Dhananjaya de Silva for just 11, 12 and two.
Josh Hull is still pinching himself after the Test pick that left English cricket speechless
England had seen attributes any attack would crave when selecting the 20-year-old
His solitary cap sits in his bedroom at home, a reminder of four unexpected days at the Oval
No matter. Social media was aghast. Some wondered whether England were trolling the critics who said they were ignoring the domestic game.
Far from it: they had seen attributes any attack would crave, even if head coach Brendon McCullum briefly sounded like a second-hand car salesman when he listed them: ‘Six foot heaps, bowls left-arm, ranges in pace from 80mph to 90mph, swings it – not dissimilar to Jimmy Anderson. He’s 20 years of age. Good farming stock. It’s not a huge gamble, is it?’
Adding to the sense that Hull was a force of nature plucked from the wilds was the fact that he had practised bowling during the Covid lockdown by turning one of the barns on the family farm into nets.
At Stamford School, his coach Dean Headley recommended him to fellow former England seamer Phil DeFreitas, who was in charge of the Leicestershire academy. Hull’s rise from the Hevey Building Supplies Northamptonshire Cricket League, where he represented Oundle, was as startling as his stature.
While others questioned England’s sanity, the dressing room set about making Hull feel welcome, assuring him there was nothing to worry about, immersing him in the Bazball ways. They wanted variety in an exclusively right-arm attack, and someone to create rough outside the right-hander’s off stump for Bashir to exploit. With the series already in the bag, they took the plunge.
‘I didn’t really have too much to think about it,’ Hull tells Mail Sport. ‘One minute I was down in Bristol playing for Leicester, then I was called up and next day I was in London. Within a week, I was making my Test debut. It’s crazy how quickly it happened. Even looking back on it now, it’s still quite surreal.’
While others questioned England’s sanity, the dressing room made Hull feel welcome
Hull, who dropped a catch, was held up as proof that England had not taken the Test seriously
But England were sufficiently impressed to name Hull in the squad for the white-ball series at home to Australia and the Test tour of Pakistan, only for a thigh injury to intervene
Hull bowled well enough in only his 11th first-class match, taking three first-innings wickets, including a stock-in-trade inswinger to trap Vishwa Fernando leg-before – precisely the kind of delivery he had been chosen for. But England lost the Test after a loose performance with the bat, which overshadowed a 2-1 win and invited accusations of fecklessness they are yet to shake off.
Through no fault of his own, Hull was held up as proof that England had not taken the Test seriously when they had the chance to complete a first clean sweep of home Tests in 20 years. A dropped catch didn’t help. So how did he cope with the scrutiny?
‘There was a lot in the media before the game, but I didn’t read anything into it,’ he says. ‘The dressing room gave me the confidence that I should be there, and to go out and have fun. If you’d told me before the game how I was going to do, I would definitely have taken it.’
England were sufficiently impressed to name Hull in the squad for the white-ball series at home to Australia and the Test tour of Pakistan, only for a thigh injury to intervene. And that raised a further question: had his 6ft 7in frame been ready for the rigours of Test cricket? The answer came during a winter spent working on his fitness with the England Lions.
‘I learned a lot from that Test,’ he says. ‘One of the things was trying to get myself as strong as possible. I’ve kept my bowling ticking over, but I wanted to prioritise my strength and fitness. I’ve made good progress with the physios.’
Soberingly for his opponents, Hull says he is still growing, though not upwards, and believes he will naturally add pace to the 84mph he produced against Sri Lanka in September.
‘It’s not something I’m trying to chase too much, but I do feel like I’m getting quicker season on season,’ he says. ‘Bowling 90mph consistently is the long-term aim.’
A niggle picked up in Abu Dhabi may rule him out of Leicestershire’s season opener against Glamorgan but he intends to get stuck in after that – and prove that a first-class record of 19 wickets at 57 is no reflection of the potential that earned him his cap.
Hull admitted he has taken inspiration from Australia’s Mitchell Starc, an ‘overall package’
He is aiming to play against Starc in the Ashes this winter, saying his debut built his hunger
In this country, though, he is strangely short of role models. England’s leading Test wicket-taker among left-arm quicks is Bill Voce, whose modest tally of 98 dates back to the 1930s and Bodyline. Before Hull, you have to go back to Sam Curran, who has not played a Test for four years. Instead, Hull has looked to Australia for inspiration.
‘Mitchell Starc is the one I look at a lot,’ he says. ‘He has a nice action, bowls high 80s to 90mph, and swings it. He’s the overall package. There are also the likes of Trent Boult and Mitchell Johnson, but Starc’s the one I’ve analysed the most.’
If everything goes to plan this summer, Hull could get a close-up view of Starc this winter.
‘Playing in the Ashes would be awesome,’ he says. ‘My debut built my hunger to play again. I want to focus on playing well for Leicester this summer, and see what happens from there. But it would be great to be around that squad and environment again.’