Matt Maher: Two phone calls changed the lives of Warwickshire Bears starlets

Both phone calls were from the same man, England’s white ball interim head coach Marcus Trescothick, delivering the same message they had received their first senior international call-ups for this month’s limited overs series against Australia.

“It was cool, if a bit surreal,” admits Bethell.

“When the call comes, it is a bit of a shock,” says Mousley, his Warwickshire and soon-to-be England team-mate.

Neither had any inkling a call might have been coming their way, yet in truth both had been touted to be on England’s radar after a summer in which they underlined their potential with performances for the Bears in the T20 Blast and the Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred.

England had definitely been on the mind.

“Me and Beth have played together for a long time,” says Mousley. “It is something we have spoken about a lot, rooming together, could we play for England?

“For it to happen now is special. Hopefully we can make our debuts together.”

That moment could come tonight when England take on Australia in the first of three T20 fixtures. Bethell has also been picked for the squad for the five one-day internationals which follow.

As players, he and Mousley have much in common. Both are spinning all-rounders and left-handed batters with the kind of aggressive and sometimes explosive style now so important in the shorter formats of the game.

Yet their journeys in cricket have been very different. While Mousley’s has been a more traditional climb through the Warwickshire pathway Bethell, who at just 20 is the younger man by three years, could have ended up playing for the West Indies and has long been tipped for stardom by two legends of Caribbean cricket.

He was just 11 when Brian Lara told him he was better than he was at the same age. At the time, Bethell was playing for the Franklyn Stephenson Academy in Barbados, his place of birth.

The other all-time great in his corner is Sir Garfield Sobers, who plays golf with his uncle but in the 1960s played for Barbados alongside Bethell’s grandfather, Arthur.

His dad Graham later captained Barbados and was renowned as a fearsome batter for Sheffield Collegiate in the Yorkshire League.

“I pretty much grew up with a bat and a ball in my hand,” smiles Bethell. “But I wasn’t pushed into it. I gravitated to it naturally.”

At the age of 12, he accepted a scholarship at Rugby School, where former Warwickshire star Michael Powell was director of cricket. Five years later, he signed his first professional deal with the Bears.

“I love everything about playing,” says Bethell, who has not lost his Bajan twang. “It sounds a bit sad saying it but cricket is pretty much my life.

“To be able to come over here and move to England, for cricket, has been unbelievable. I just enjoy every minute.”

He has certainly provided plenty of enjoyment for spectators, with the highlight of his season a 14-ball half century against Northamptonshire.

“It has been nice to put the performances out there, to show I can actually do it,” says Bethell, of a season which has felt like something of a breakthrough across the formats.

While Mousley is certainly no slouch with the bat either, his most eye-catching performances this summer have arguably been with the ball where he has further burgeoned his reputation as one of the best spin bowlers in the domestic limited overs game.

It is not just the stats but the speed which has people talking. Mousley’s deliveries are regularly clocked in the mid-70s, rivalling many county seamers, to the extent this season has even seen him add a bouncer to his repertoire. He is surely the only professional spinner in the history of the game to be called no-ball for a bouncer which went above head height.

“It is ridiculous, isn’t it?” laughs Mousley when the speed of his bowling is brought up. “I have always had pace. As a kid people would say, you need to bowl a bit slower.

“But now I use it to my advantage. This year I am bowling spin but I feel I am bowling quicker than I have done.”

Mousley’s standout moment of the year came in The Hundred when he took three wickets for three runs in 10 balls to lead the Phoenix to an unlikely win over Trent Rockets.

It was a spell which summed up both his desire and ability to be a match-winner. Increasingly, you can say the same about Bethell too.

“I love the responsibility,” says Mousley. “I have always had the confidence to just say give me the ball, or I will do it with the bat.

“At Warwickshire I am really lucky to do both. Hopefully I can do it for England as well.”

Bethell and Mousley are two of five uncapped players in a T20 squad which feels like a partial changing of the guard following June’s underwhelming World Cup defence.

It feels even more so the case at Edgbaston, where the duo’s team-mate Moeen Ali has called time on his international career in the week they hope to start theirs.

“Having Mo at Warwickshire is outstanding for us,” says Mousley. “How cool and calm he is in the dressing room rubs off on people like me, Jacob and the younger boys.

“You can always pick his brains. He is good for a chat. He knows the game so well and is always ready to help us out.

“Him and Chris Woakes have told us to go out there and keep doing what we are doing. I just want to perform well, no matter who I am playing for.”