All-rounder Jamie Overton’s brilliant season for Surrey has caught the eye of the England selectors and he was called up to the Test squad today (Thursday 16 June) for England’s third Test against New Zealand.
Overton, who joined Surrey from Somerset in 2020, has been in fine form with the red ball, taking 21 wickets at an average of 21.6 as well as chipping in with 212 runs at an average of 53.
Speaking to the Club for the first time since hearing the news, Jamie said: “I’m very much delighted to get my first call-up, it obviously means a lot to me. My childhood dream was to play Test cricket for England, I grew up watching Test cricket and it was the ’05 Ashes that really got me into cricket.
“I watched the highlights from Trent Bridge after our game, the way Jonny [Bairstow] and Stokesy [Ben Stokes] took the game to them and took it away from them was incredible. I’m looking forward to being around the England squad, some of those players in that team are the best players in the world and that’s where you want to be. I can learn a lot from them and I’m sure there’s so much that they can give to me to help my game and see if I can improve as much as I can.
“Moving to Surrey has improved my game massively and I think the Club has definitely helped me to get this call up. I feel like I was a good bowler at Somerset, and I’d have my moments, but here I’ve been way more consistent with my pace and my accuracy. Working with with Azhar [Mahmood], I shortened my run up, which has helped me come on leaps and bounds. It was something so simple but I’ve never really had that guidance and the confidence to try it.
“With the bat, I’ve had much more responsibility and I’ve batted higher up the order and felt more part of the team with the bat, like I can contribute more to the side. In the past I was down the order and had to be a dasher. As an all-rounder, you thrive off both of them working together.
“I’m delighted to be joining up with Craig [Overton, Jamie’s twin brother]. Whilst we played together growing up, as professionals we’ve not actually played in the same team as much as you’d have thought – one of us has always been injured! So it’d be really nice to pull the shirt on together and play for England – and we’d be the first twins to ever play together for England.”
