‘He’s got aura’: England sensation Jacob Bethell on Virat Kohli and Test ambitions

Fresh off a plane from India and straight into a player-of-the-match performance for England on his home ground, Jacob Bethell’s world is a pretty hectic one these days. But right now the only complaint about a jetset lifestyle that has seen him rubbing shoulders with Virat Kohli and tipped for superstardom himself is the hotel beds.

“A lot of them are way too soft,” said Bethell after the first one-day international against West Indies, his incendiary 82 having helped Harry Brook to a winning start as England captain. “I have got a bad back and I’m only 21, so we need to sort that out. I might have to walk around with some memory foam. But no, I’m enjoying it.”

In many ways, being beamed up to the world of international cricket - and the franchise circuit that sits between it and the county game - is nothing new. Bethell has been on the road ever since he swapped Barbados for Rugby School, aged 12, and began training with Warwickshire’s coaches every morning before lessons.

Like that memory foam, Bethell probably wishes he could take the Edgbaston pitch with wherever he goes. Not that the runs he plundered during Thursday’s 238-run win were easy pickings. Granted a platform had been set but there was a fiery spell from the ever-cranky Alzarri Joseph to negotiate before he began depositing the ball into the stands.

Even with only a dash of stubble on his youthful features, there is a notable maturity to Bethell that possibly stems from that trans-Atlantic switch. Yet to taste a professional century, but already a three-format international, the all-rounder could be forgiven for a touch of imposter syndrome but instead he sounds as cool as they come.

Take missing the recent Zimbabwe Test to sit on the bench at Royal Challengers Bangalore. It felt a misstep by England, not least with Bethell having made such an impression after being parachuted into No 3 in New Zealand last December. And yet the player himself is pretty zen about the whole thing, believing his game to have improved from the experience and not least watching an all-timer like Kohli at close quarters.

“I definitely feel like I got a lot better,” said Bethell. “I only played the two games, but the training and the facilities, you’re facing quality net bowlers and spinners day in, day out. And just the way those batters go about thinking about playing spin, they’re pretty clinical in how they pick length and the deliveries they try and hit for four and six.

“I think [Kohli] quite enjoys the overseas boys because we’re just pretty chilled around him, but yeah, he’s definitely got whatever they say nowadays: ‘aura’ - It’s pretty electrifying to walk out with him. He’s got a certain intensity with him, he flips that switch on as soon as he crosses that line, which is pretty cool to see.”

As well as “little day-to-day routines” to stay sane on the road, Bethell is also not one for social media. Instead, it took a friend – it is always a friend – to tell him he had been the subject of a fair few headlines after Ben Stokes seemed to suggest he would be straight back into the Test side to face India, only to later claim his words had been “twisted”.

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“I was pretty far away to be honest,” said Bethell, “I didn’t really hear a lot of it until I think one of my friends messaged me and said the whole thing was going on. But I haven’t really followed it. I obviously played in New Zealand as a replacement for a replacement [Jordan Cox suffered an injury on tour, with Jamie Smith already on paternity leave]. So whatever happens, it will be, and when the time comes, it will be fine.

“I’m still trying to cement my place in this one-day side, the T20 side, and if I get a chance in that Test side, I’ll be looking to do the same. But at the minute I’m just taking it game by game.”

That next game is this Sunday in Cardiff, where England have the chance to wrap up their first series win in ODI cricket since the summer before the 2023 World Cup. Part of the new guard that was ushered in after that sorry campaign and the similarly poor T20 World Cup that followed it, Bethell is starting to bed in.

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