HE MAY be in the twilight of his career, but Dean Cosker still dreams of playing Test cricket for England.

And the Weymouth-born spin bowler has done his chances no harm with an impressive start to the new County Championship season.

The Glamorgan star has already claimed a host of Division Two victims, making him one of the leading spinners in the country.

With England looking to replace Graeme Swann in all forms of the game, Cosker is one of a handful of slow bowlers being considered for the role.

The left-armer puts his outstanding early season form down to some subtle winter technical tweaks made with Glamorgan spin coach and former Test regular, Robert Croft.

Cosker, 36, explained: “The early season conditions are usually more associated to seam and swing bowling.

“But the technical aspects I have worked on and changes made in the winter with Robert Croft have paid off and hopefully they will still be working in July and August.

“You can never stop learning in this great game especially with this art of spin bowling and the game changes so fast.

“I still have England ambitions, of course I do. That being the case I need  to keep learning for the rest of my career.

“I haven’t spoken to anyone regarding England. But there have been changes at the top and the new management are starting with a blank canvass, so who knows?”

Despite his ambition, Cosker stressed that taking wickets for his county remains his priority.

“However, I am not someone who likes to look too far ahead so I’ll just keep working hard.

“I just need to keep taking wickets for Glamorgan and playing well for my county”, he added. “That has always been the thing I have focused on.

Cosker, who made his first-class debut in 1996, toured with England A in 1997-98 and 1998-99.
But, despite a string of decent performances, he never made the transition to full international
honours.