It’s not just the bleach blonde beach haircut that has made Jacob Bethell stand out in his first three months as an England cricketer.

Like two other prodigious talents of the 21st century, Jimmy Anderson and Kevin Pietersen, with their extravagant Mohawk and Skunk, here is someone who is not afraid to express himself.

Like that stellar duo, he became an essential member of the England team overnight through the force of his personality. As teammate Phil Salt said after the first of his two half-centuries in the 3-1 Twenty20 series win over the West Indies: “He’s a 21-year-old boy, but if you didn’t know his age, you I thought he played 100 games.

A sign of his status was provided last Saturday when England resisted the temptation to send in the in-form Liam Livingstone to make the most of a heel start that had taken them to 102 for two in the 10th over, keeping Bethell to zero. 4 and maintaining a left-right combination.

Generally, he excelled, setting a career-best unbeaten 62 and finishing with a series strike rate of 173.97 – the best of six players to score 100 runs in all five matches.

Bethell is a chameleon cricketer, adapting seamlessly to new environments and challenges, and having the kind of impact that suggests, contrary to statistical evidence, that he will also succeed in Test cricket.

Jacob Bethell became a key member of the England team overnight

A chameleonic cricketer, Bethell was selected for the tour of New Zealand as a replacement batter.

He has the skills and ambition to make life uncomfortable for current test holders.

As first revealed Sports Mailhe became Bazball’s latest bolter – a player with a first-class average of 25 and no professional hundred – when he was selected for the tour of New Zealand which begins later this week.

Pietersen had 21 hundreds when he made his Test debut in the 2005 Ashes, but selectors now trade in different currencies, no longer relying on traditional apprenticeships on the county circuit.

“Well, all the attributes are there, aren’t they? If you have benchmarks to be able to go there, that’s right, you have to do this, this and this, he would knock on the door for that. And obviously, he’s now next in line on this next trip. There’s no reason why he can’t break through and be successful because he’s flourished in both formats we’ve seen in recent times,” said Marcus Trescothick, the interim head coach of England on this tour.

“So if he got an opportunity there it would be exciting to see him go there and see what he can do because you could almost see him break through as the next youngster after Harry Brook, the most exciting . who passes.

Like Brook, he overcame technical challenges with his stick. At the start of 2024, his head was falling to the offside side, with the result that he was playing wide balls he didn’t need to and missing straight balls.

At his best, as he has been here in the Caribbean, he is always up against the wall. An instinctive player with Brian Lara-like hands who whip in deliveries, drilling gaps or clearing the ropes with precision. He is alone in a crusade to bring the late cut back into fashion.

Already a fielder capable of matching anyone in the country at backward point and a developing left-arm player, Bethell’s ability to turn to anything adds to his appeal.

In the long run, he considers himself a top-order hitter, having spent his schoolboy years as an opener – a position from which he smashed a 42-ball 88 for England Under-19s during the 2022 World Cup.

He travels to New Zealand as a reserve batter, but with the skills and ambition to make life uncomfortable for current Test regulars Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope in the not too distant future.