When rain ruined England’s second of three matches in Ireland on Friday, Sonny Baker was the most disappointed person at Malahide. After a humiliating ODI debut against South Africa two and a half weeks prior, Baker was poised to earn his first T20I cap and was “desperate” for another opportunity to play for his country. Rather, he’s hoping for some sunshine on Sunday.
After making an impression for the Lions in Australia, Baker, who is 22 years old, has become a serious prospect this season and has been expedited onto an England development contract. With his brilliant new-ball spells to David Warner and Jonny Bairstow, he was a Hundred star. If he had looked good in an England shirt, he was regarded as a possible Ashes bolter.
Rather, what ought to have been the pinnacle of his fledgling career swiftly became a day to forget. Baker was asked to bowl the first over while running up the hill at Headingley after a spectacular batting collapse that left just 131 on the board. He was bowled first-ball and was last man out. Three of the first five balls of Aiden Markram’s England career were duly hit to the boundary.
Markram crunched him for six on either side of the ground in his second over, which didn’t get any better. After his first four overs cost 56 runs, Harry Brook had to give up, but he kept him on in the hopes that a wicket would turn the tide. Baker’s second spell, after an end change, went slightly better, but 0 for 76 in seven overs were still the worst figures for an England ODI debutant.
“It was obviously not exactly how I’d planned my debut going,” Baker said on Saturday, with a healthy dose of perspective. “Not all good experiences are enjoyable experiences… At the time, I was thinking, ’15 an over for my first three or four overs is not what I had in mind!’ But in the long run, it’ll be a good thing… The next one will definitely be better than that – or hopefully!
“Jof [Jofra Archer] came over from cover to mid-off and was like, ‘How’s your heart rate, bud?’ But from an emotional management point of view, I actually felt okay at the time, all things considered. There was so much going on that I didn’t really have time to register, ‘Oh no, this is really not going how I wanted it to.’ It was like, ‘Well, I’ve just got to get on with it and deal with it.’
“Overall, I was obviously a little bit disappointed after the series, because it’s not how you want your first game to go. I had a bit of time to reflect, but bounced back fairly quickly after that because I knew I was obviously in for this [tour].”
Baker has rapidly established a reputation as a thorough note-taker who plans every game in great detail and takes analysis very seriously. Reviewing his debut, he was not overly discouraged. He recalled a delivery to Markram at 89 mph that was “a little bit over the top of leg stump” and vanished over square leg for six.
“Brooky was chatting to me after, and said, ‘What did you write down in your notebook after that game?‘ I just said, ‘Shit happens,'” he recounted. “It was not the best I’ve bowled, but there’s days where I’ve bowled a lot worse than that and got four [wickets] for not very many. It’s just one of those games: you can score quickly at that ground.”
After the series, Brendon McCullum praised him for his “infectious enthusiasm,” and he doesn’t seem to have been too negatively impacted by his debut. He is now hoping to make his T20I debut in front of his parents and girlfriend in Ireland. Last weekend, he returned to bowling for Hampshire on Blast Finals Day, where his personal high point was an inswinging yorker to clean up Tom Kohler-Cadmore.
Baker was “very nervous” on the morning of his Headingley debut, but he hopes to express his feelings in a more relaxed environment at Malahide, where tickets for Sunday’s game are sold out, and establish himself wearing an England shirt:“I’m desperate to get out there again… Hopefully, [Sunday] will be a good opportunity to get one under my belt.”
