Turner is 23 and only finished an economics and finance degree at Exeter University this summer, but has been on the fringes of England white-ball selection for over a year. He was first named in a squad for last summer’s T20I series against New Zealand, but was ruled out through injury, and was then an unused member of the touring party in the Caribbean in December.
“Just being in the squad is a cool experience for myself,” Turner said. “But you obviously want to and hope to debut at some point, and hopefully that comes at some stage in this series… being in and around the squads and the players, you naturally improve and you naturally learn.
“I definitely would say I’m in a much better place now than I was this time last year, but I’ve still got quite a long way to go: I’m not anywhere near the finished product… The way you approach the game with different ideas for different batsmen and different scenarios, that’s what I end up taking from these types of environments.”
Turner has an unmistakable South African accent and only moved to the UK four years ago. But his pace piqued England’s interest during his first T20 campaign for Hampshire last summer and he has taken regular wickets throughout his young professional career, with a bowling average below 20 in all three formats.
England are still hoping to identify a middle-overs wicket-taker in the Liam Plunkett mould and Jos Buttler – who will watch this series from the sidelines due to his calf injury – hinted last week that Turner could be used in a similar role. “[It’s about] finding ways to break partnerships and take wickets, which is crucial in those 50-over games,” Buttler said. “Having high pace is certainly a way of doing that.”
He has enjoyed the challenge of playing in the Hundred – “constantly bowling against the best… you’re always under pressure” – and in particular, having his speeds tracked. “Post-game, I’ll probably end up watching every single ball back to see what speed I was at… it’s quite handy to know at times: almost don’t try too hard and it works itself out.”
Turner believes that there will be “healthy competition” among England’s fast bowlers in their ODI series. “I’ve never played in the same team as Jof, and I probably won’t be as quick as him. But if I’m bowling with him, if I see his speed on the board, I’ll be like, ‘let me see if I can match him.’ I’m naturally competitive and I’ll naturally want to try and be the quickest.
“It’s probably healthy competition if we have that as well… Pace is my point of difference, but around that, I want to have the skillset also to be able to compete. It’s always exciting to have a full stock of fast bowlers: the crowd enjoy watching sixes and boundaries, but I think it’s quite enjoyable watching guys bowling 85-plus and pure speed.”
Despite having played only twice in the County Championship this year, Turner’s ambitions extend across formats. He missed the start of the season with a knee injury and has struggled to break into a Hampshire seam attack which boasts both Mohammad Abbas and Kyle Abbott as spearheads.
“Just being in and around them has been a good learning area for me: they’ve helped me improve my game immensely,” Turner said. “That’s definitely the way I want my career to pan out. I’d like to be an all-format [player]: Test cricket, white-ball and franchise stuff. I don’t really want to put myself into a single category.”
John Turner was speaking at Hampshire’s Utilita Bowl to mark the installation of 1044 solar panels at the venue, as part of an industry-leading partnership with Utilita Energy
Matt Roller is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. @mroller98
