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England and Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson has announced his retirement from First-Class cricket. Dawson said that the decision was taken to prolong his career with his county, Hampshire, in the white-ball formats.
Dawson was playing in the County Championship in England before he missed his team's last match with an injury. Dawson is a right-handed batter and bowls left-arm orthodox spin.
Liam Dawson ignored for Tests against New Zealand
Dawson's announcement comes just a few days after he was not selected for England's upcoming home Test series against New Zealand. Rehan Ahmed, Shoaib Bashir, and Jacob Bethell were preferred as the spin-bowling options over him. The squad was selected by England's new Australian selector, Marcus North.
The three-Test series against New Zealand will run from June 4 to June 29. The series will be a part of the World Test Championship. Before the series starts, New Zealand will also play a one-off Test against Ireland at the end of May.
England will be returning to Test cricket for the first time since the Ashes debacle in Australia in January. New Zealand, too, haven't played Test cricket since beating West Indies at home in December.
Liam Dawson's England career
For England so far, Dawson has played 4 Tests, 9 ODIs, and 32 T20Is between 2016 and 2026. He impressed on his Test debut with an unbeaten 66 against India in Chennai in 2016, but the chances never really came.
Dawson played two more Tests against South Africa at home in 2017, but had to wait eight years for his fourth Test cap. Dawson last played Test cricket against India at Manchester in July 2025.
His retirement from First-Class cricket means that Dawson will end his Test career with 110 runs at a batting average of 22 and 8 wickets at a bowling average of 54.75
Dawson made his international debut in the other two formats in 2016 as well. But his career in those as well was sporadic. He played one match in 2016, two matches in 2018, three matches in 2022, and then three more in 2026.
Earlier this year, he was recalled for the ODI series against Sri Lanka. In 3 matches, he took 4 wickets but batted only once and made just two runs. Overall, in his ODI career of 9 matches, he has made 65 runs at a batting average of 10.83 and has taken 9 wickets at a bowling average of 44.77. Despite this sporadic career, Dawson was a part of England's 2019 ODI World Cup-winning squad.
T20Is, though, were Dawson's most productive format for England. In 32 matches, he made 79 runs at a strike rate of 114.49, but also took 32 wickets at an economy rate of 7.76. Dawson was a semi-regular in T20Is between 2016 and 2018 before making a comeback in 2022.
Then, with England's selectors keeping an eye on the T20 World Cup in India & Sri Lanka this year, Dawson made yet another comeback to T20Is in 2025. It remains to be seen if he is persisted with by England in white-ball cricket.
Liam Dawson's Hampshire career and retirement statement
Dawson represented Hampshire in more than 200 first-class matches in the County Championship. In his overall First-Class career, Dawson made 10,848 runs at an average of 51.79 with 18 centuries, and took 380 wickets with the ball at an average of 32 and 15 five-wicket hauls.
With Hampshire, Dawson won six white-ball trophies, including three in T20s. He has also represented various T20 franchises across the world.
"It wasn't an easy decision, but I felt the time was right," Dawson said in a statement released by Hampshire. "I'm proud to have represented Hampshire for so long and look forward to continuing in white-ball cricket."
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