Sat in the corner of Edgbaston’s home dressing room, Jacob Bethell is reflecting on an imminent return to the scene of what is arguably his most impressive innings to date.
Within a six-month period running from September 2025 to March 2026, the Warwickshire left-hander struck hundreds in each of the three international formats. Only India’s Shubman Gill, at a fortnight quicker, has managed the feat in a shorter timeframe.
And it was the middle one of 154 against Australia in Sydney, an act of defiance in an otherwise painfully one-sided series that suggested the faith England’s selectors showed in fast-tracking him to the Test side two years ago had not been misplaced.
‘It certainly gave me a lot of confidence. I found a lovely method of batting over there. I only played two games in the Ashes, but I kind of found a game plan that was working and one that I think can be successful batting away from England,’ he tells Daily Mail Sport, hours before flying out on the eight-match limited-overs tour of Australia.
‘I know once I get a good start, I can go on and make big scores and I am only looking to add to that tally of hundreds now.
‘The goal I’ve got going forward is just to do that more consistently. I’ve shown great glimpses of what I can do, and I feel like I can give a lot more in terms of the consistency department.’
‘I know once I get a good start, I can go on and make big scores and I am only looking to add to that tally of hundreds now,’ Jacob Bethell tells Daily Mail Sport’s Richard Gibson
‘The goal I’ve got going forward is just to do that more consistently. I’ve shown great glimpses of what I can do, and I feel like I can give a lot more in terms of the consistency department’
A maiden professional hundred in a record-breaking one-day win over South Africa at the Utilita Bowl and a breathless blitz of 105 off 48 balls in the Twenty20 World Cup semi-final against India sandwiched that scintillating SCG century.
Each innings was very different, but according to Bethell they were all born of the same principles. ‘I’m so used to switching now, it’s more like a mental shift. I try to keep my technique pretty simple, so there’s not much change between the formats. It’s just a question of: am I reading the game well? What’s the pitch doing? What do I need to do against this opposition?’
There have been other decisive contributions to eye-catching victories during the past year too, such as the ice-cool 40 that got the tourists over the line and onto the series scoreboard in Melbourne last Christmas, and man-of-the-match innings against India at Old Trafford and Lord’s that settled the white-ball bragging rights 6-1 in England’s favour in midsummer.
However, his 91 in the one-day series sealing victory was made while battling discomfort in his right knee. He dismissed it as innocuous at first. ‘I felt soreness fielding during a previous T20 game in Southampton, but I never really felt it go per se, like how you would feel a ligament or a tendon go,’ he says.
‘Initially I thought it was going to be three or four weeks, have a bit of time off my feet and then get back into it. At the start, I only thought I was going to miss the Hundred.’
But the chondral defect shown up by a subsequent scan left Bethell, who turned 23 earlier this month, languishing on the sidelines for three months. When rest failed to alleviate the issue, keyhole surgery was required.
A lot has happened in his absence: England were captained by Ben Stokes when he last featured for the Test team, the limited-overs personnel have been reshuffled with moderate success and Will Jacks has inherited Bethell’s unofficial position as deputy to Harry Brook. Such is Bethell’s quality, though, that it feels inconceivable that he will not return to the first-choice XIs across the board, starting with the first 50-over international against Australia in Perth on November 13.
A lot has happened in Bethell’s absence: England were captained by Ben Stokes when he last featured while Will Jacks has inherited Bethell’s unofficial position as deputy to Harry Brook
‘I don’t really know how the batting order is going to be structured, but again, what I’ll go back to is that I’m adaptable. I’ll bat wherever,’ he says.
‘I have obviously done the majority of my work in the middle order in that side. I only opened the batting three times, did okay in one, struggled in the other two games and obviously Tom Banton’s come back in and has done really well at the top of the order. So, I don’t really know how the batting order is going to be structured, but again, what I’ll go back to is that I’m adaptable. I’ll bat wherever,’ he says.
Bethell is chatting to Daily Mail Sport between early morning and late afternoon fitness sessions. His knee injury has resulted in a focus on strengthening his legs, with weeks of blood flow restriction training, in which cuffs are wrapped around the upper thighs to create metabolic stress in working muscles, adding two centimetres to the circumference of each.
It has him feeling re-energised at the start of a 12-month stretch that includes next month’s Test series in South Africa and a 50-over World Cup there next year. In between, there are five Tests against Australia and Bethell says: ‘If I could guarantee one result, it would have to be winning the Ashes.’
Bethell is yet to meet Stephen Fleming, the man entrusted with wresting the urn out of Australian hands after a decade of dominance, saying: ‘I’ve only spoken to him via WhatsApp. Very short conversations, just an introduction and “see you when I see you” type thing. But I’m looking forward to working with him. He’s obviously got a hell of a reputation working with Chennai over in the IPL.’
The cubbyholes of Bethell’s locker area speak of his rise as an international cricketer. Sandwiching a handful of un-popped champagne bottles bestowed upon him for match-defining performances are three pairs of wraparound sunglasses and some new training shoes.
The sports attire has been sent by Nike to mark the beginning of a personal activewear deal with the world’s biggest-selling athletic brand. His entrance to the Nike family as the first English cricketer coming ahead of a deeper delve into the European cricket market by the American company next year.
Bethell is also here to take delivery of a new batch of Gunn & Moore bats, eight of which will accompany him on his flight to Australia on Sunday, from a range to be launched next week that will carry his name. Growing up in Barbados, he used a GM, inspired by Joe Root’s early years as an international batsman, and views taking up the mantle as an influencer to a new generation of young players as ‘pretty special’.
With his peroxide locks and impish good looks, he is a marketing dream, but like all robust selection processes, it is performance that has played the decisive hand in attracting such high-level suitors.
