'Englishman' Worrall starts afresh in his new homeland

He might be packing three international caps and almost 250 first-class wickets, but when Daniel Worrall arrives in south-west London later this month to adopt his new guise as an "Englishman" playing for Surrey, he sees himself as a rookie recruit taking the first steps of a new career.

Worrall, who turns 31 in July, decided last year his time as an Australian cricketer was up and – by dint of his heritage with an English father and Irish mother – exercised his option as a British passport holder to sign a three-year deal with the county heavyweight.

But even though he boasts a decade of experience with South Australia and three ODI appearances for his former country, as well as stints with the Melbourne Stars and Adelaide Strikers in the KFC BBL, he genuinely feels he will arrive at The Oval for coming northern summer as an eager novice with everything to prove.

And it's that sense of not only a fresh start but also a rare opportunity to embark on an entirely new career built on an existing skills set that has Worrall as keen and as eager to get cracking as he was when he first turned out for the Redbacks a decade ago.

"In my mind, I'm going as a rookie with everything to learn and with a full career ahead of me," Worrall told cricket.com.au.

"I've got an amazing club in Surrey that I've got the opportunity to represent, so I'm starting fresh and I'm heading over with no expectations apart from giving it all I can and to be the best cricketer I can be.

"It's the youngest, freshest, most excited I've felt about playing since I was 21.

"I've always had the ambition to play in England as an Englishman.

"And I just thought the stage I'm at in my career, it's a good chance to have an extended run at it in England rather than just play two seasons of county cricket when I'm 35.

"Then I would never know what I could have been.

"I'm not young, but I'm young enough to go over and play for hopefully five or six years if I keep performing well and keep learning."

Worrall has spoken previously about the factors that led him to the life-changing decision, among them the clarity of vision that came from lengthy stints on the sidelines recovering from serious injuries and his unabashed love for cricket life in England.

However, recent events have helped bring that yearning into sharper focus.

For a start, there's the change in off-field circumstances with Worrall and his partner Hayley welcoming their first child – a daughter, Florence – seven weeks ago.

Then there's the biosecurity bubbles and their inherent restrictions in all Australian domestic competitions, a necessity that has further reduced the trade's lustre in Worrall's eyes and won't be anywhere near as onerous in the UK.

"The COVID stuff has really put a dampener on the last couple of years," he said.

"The best parts about being a professional cricketer for me was having good mates that you can travel the country with, you can go for dinners, you can play golf, you can go and watch bands.

"All the stuff that's fun we just weren't able to do because we were locked in hotels, that's another draining part of cricket in the last couple of years in Australia.

"It's just been tough to deal with.

"But even when I was playing county cricket (with Gloucestershire) last year, it was almost free rein.

Image Id: 1478BA1A5C82431DB0A4B9D1D508296F Image Caption: Worrall celebrates a wicket for Gloucestershire last year // Getty

"So as soon as I had this opportunity to go over there with Surrey, it's just a no-brainer because it gives me a way to stay fresh, change it up and almost put a line through the first half of my career and start again as a 30-year-old with the mindset of a 21-year-old."

Given his academic leaning – Worrall has completed a law-commerce degree and is midway through a Masters in Applied Finance which he'll complete online in England – it's tempting to characterise his switch to Surrey as a doctoral thesis atop his undergraduate work already completed on Australian pitches.

After all, another key element of England's appeal is the ambient conditions that aid the right-armer's subtle movement as opposed to largely on unresponsive Australian surfaces where he was regularly armed with a ball that swings about as markedly and often as safe federal seats.

But Worrall dismisses that metaphor as summarily as he's worked over many a top-order batter and insists his 195 Shield wickets at 29.43 since earning his Redbacks cap in 2012 entitles him to nothing when he steps out for Surrey, whose 2022 season began against Warwickshire on Thursday.

"I don't think I've struggled in Australia by any means, but it's just a different way to bowl over there," he said.

"You get rewarded in Australia for being tall, fast (and) bouncy, whereas in England the pitches are different, so there's not such a priority on those attributes.

"It's more about being crafty with angles, with swing, with seam and I love how it's a bit more skill-based for bowlers.

"That's a different test and it's something that intrigues me."

Another enticing prospect is the opportunity to pit himself against the physical demands of the county circuit, a schedule that sees teams often switching between first-class, one-day and even T20 formats in the course of a single week.

Worrall takes inspiration from his Adelaide Strikers teammate and former Test quick Peter Siddle, who has become a fixture on the county scene in recent years but who has hardly missed a game of late despite being a multi-format player year-round.

Like 37-year-old Siddle, who knew the pain of long-term injuries earlier in his career, Worrall has spent lengthy stints in rehabilitation but believes those setbacks helped provide perspective that has proved crucial in his development, both on and off the field.

That self-assessment also extends to his fleeting international career to date, as part of a radically revamped ODI squad for a flying visit to South Africa in 2016 where he and fellow new caps Scott Boland, Chris Tremain and Joe Mennie formed one of the least experienced bowling groups Australia has ever fielded.

"If I'm honest, I probably played (for Australia) too early and I wasn't good enough," Worrall said, having earned his call-up on the strength of a storming end to the 2015-16 summer when he snared 25 wickets in the final four Shield games.

"I'd played maybe 16 state games.

"But that experience, and then the injuries that followed, gave me a great perspective in my outlook on my career.

"It was no longer the be-all and end-all if I took wickets or made runs.

"It didn't define me as a person, it just gave me the motivation to be more well-rounded.

"I studied harder, I worked harder on my physical fitness and not just for bowling, but for life. And I think I just learned to play cricket with a bit more freedom because it wasn't the be-all and end-all.

"Saying that, I do try as hard as I can to be the best player I can. But when I leave the ground all the troubles for the day and all my victories for the day stay at the ground."

While the purists will surely scoff into their yellowed anthologies, another lure for Worrall is the chance to be part of the England and Wales Cricket Board's newest limited-overs concept, the Hundred.

Worrall was snapped up by the Manchester Originals in the player draft conducted earlier this week and, while he has no experience in the format that begins its second season, he watched with interest during his UK stint with Gloucestershire last year and liked what he saw.

'I'm really excited to get involved," he said of the Hundred.

"It's a completely new concept for cricket, making it as short as possible and creating a diverse, inclusive atmosphere for families.

"I think it's great, I think it's a great way to advocate for the game of cricket and the more fans we get who actually love the game then the more the game can grow.

"It's another great opportunity that I probably wouldn't have had unless I made the decision to play as an Englishman."

As to whether adopting life as "an Englishman" might grant him access to that exclusive club of players to have represented both the Ashes rivals – a cohort that's not welcomed a new member since the 19th Century – Worrall is understandably coy.

England might be in the throes of a radical revamp of its Test bowling stocks with all-time leading wicket-takers Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad overlooked for the recent West Indies tour, and doubts remaining over whether injured Jofra Archer will return to red-ball ranks.

However, Worrall must complete his current three-year tenure with Surrey before he is eligible for his adopted country and therefore concedes it's a distant dream even if he refuses to dismiss it out of hand.

What he can rule out is the possibility of playing for Ireland, even though he also holds an Irish passport courtesy of his mother's heritage and has previously fielded inquiries about the prospects of donning the green of cricket's newest (along with Afghanistan) Test nation.

Image Id: 6A22E8D3DDA34544BBC7488C5187FF39 Image Caption: Worrall playing for Australia against Ireland in 2016 // Getty

"I don't ever think it was really a thing, I think someone just got wind I had an Irish passport," he said in ruling out an Irish career.

"I'm committing fully to English cricket now.

"It's a genuine goal to get over there and play for as long as I can, as well as I can.

"But from what I've learned in my career so far, I could get stressies (stress fractures) tomorrow and be out for two years.

"So for now, I'm fully focused on a) being fit and b) performing to the best of my ability for Surrey.

"I'm indebted to them and I'll do everything I can to perform for Surrey and whatever happens, will happen."

It's not only the chance to learn more about bowling craft from Surrey's England-capped skipper Chris Jordan, allrounder brothers Tom and Sam Curran and towering seamer Reece Copley, Worrall is also keen to share notes with overseas import and veteran West Indies quick, Kemar Roach.

And he's looking forward to tapping into the vast knowledge of ex-South Africa batting legend Hashim Amla as well as Surrey's other Test players Rory Burns, Ollie Pope, Jason Roy and Ben Foakes, under head coach Gareth Batty.

But the greatest incentive is the prospect of silverware with a fabled outfit that boasts the second-highest number of county championship titles (20) behind Yorkshire (33), the most recent of those coming in 2018 when former Australia batter (now men's team assistant coach) Michael Di Venuto was at the helm.

Surrey's successes – which also includes nine domestic limited-overs titles since 1974 and victory in the inaugural domestic Twenty20 Cup competition in 2003 – contrasts starkly with Worrall's experiences in Australia.

Despite being part of SA's starting XI in two Sheffield Shield finals (2016 and 2017), as many one-day cup grand finals (2015 and 2017) and three BBL deciders with the Melbourne Stars (2016, 2019 and 2020), Worrall has never found himself in the winning team.

Even on his return to Premier Cricket in the second half of the current summer – when he was overlooked for SA, which recorded a solitary victory in each of the Marsh Sheffield Shield and One Day Cup competitions – he could not help Kensington progress past the semi-final stage in either the two-day and one-day formats.

It's therefore understandable the prospect of celebrating success is just as tempting, perhaps even more so, than taking a brand new Dukes ball and bending it at will under heavy cloud on grassy decks.

"There's no bones about it, the South Australian team hasn't been performing as well as we would have liked the last couple of years," Worrall said.

"It's tough when you lose more than you win, and as you get older and you see new guys coming in who have a real fresh outlook, it can make it even harder for those of us who are a bit older and who carry a few battle scars.

"A lot of the guys I played with for 10 years (at SA) were moving on, so I felt it was probably my time as well to let the new generation take over and have a go.

"I'm also fully aware that not many people get second chances in their career, and I feel I'm very lucky to be in a position where I can choose to finish up in Australia and pursue a career in England.

"I feel like it's a great opportunity for me professionally to work on different aspects of my game.

"In this part of my career, I can focus on upskilling with my craft, work on my leadership skills and work on building a legacy at Surrey, which is winning trophies.

"That's something I've missed out on in Australia, unfortunately.

"I've lost every domestic competition final there is, so I'm looking to going to Surrey and ultimately chasing silverware.

"That's what I'm going there for - to perform to the best of my abilities but even more so, I'd just like to win something."