Sonny Baker: The England bowler is hoping for a Test debut this summer

Sonny Baker started telling a story about a bike he bought from someone on a Facebook marketplace and a Tomahawk steak when his video call died.

And that’s a shame, because watching Baker’s energy and enthusiasm in his stories is characteristic of a conversation with the Hampshire pace bowler. A baker speaks like bowls – quickly and with a smile.

A Broken Link metaphorically fits what Baker has learned in his short English career to date.

Baker shipped worldwide in one day. 0-76 against South Africa – For the first time, the most expensive portraits by an Englishman.

The 23-year-old is sanguine about that day at Headingley, insisting he was rightly on target in a game England would never win after being bowled out for 131. Ireland plundered 52 from their four overs.

As much as the failed call-up stopped him at his age, Baker knows he hasn’t given himself a better chance to succeed in Dublin.

“My younger brother Blaise told me after the game that I wasn’t myself,” Baker told BBC Sport.

“I’m an absolute carry dealer. If someone plays and misses, I’m like, ‘woooaaaaahhh.’ I can’t help but give a big carry.”

“But in Dublin, I was still trying to get my ODI debut. I’d hit the bat, be thankful I wasn’t hit for a boundary, then go back to my mark to go again.

“If I get the chance again, it’s about being myself. If I make someone play and miss me, I have to continue as usual. There’s no point in worrying about what everyone thinks. Who cares? That’s how I am. I have to be right.”

And Baker will get plenty of chances to play for England, possibly making his Test debut this summer.

For all the talk of who might come into the batting line-up, it’s the pace bowling department that has plenty of openings.

In less than three years, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Chris Wax and – perhaps – Mark Wood have left the Test stage. England need to find replacements for 1,619 wickets.

Briden Carsey was injured, Jofra Archer struggled in the Indian Premier League and Matthew Potts struggled in the final Ashes Test in Sydney.