Dawson, who will join England in South Africa next week to shadow the Twenty20 squad in action for two matches in Cape Town and Johannesburg, will have an opportunity then to impress head coach Trevor Bayliss.
The Australian admits he has yet to see Dawson play, but was encouraged by both his ability and his attitude during Lions practice sessions in the United Arab Emirates before Christmas.
Hampshire all-rounder Dawson and frontline seamer Steven Finn, reportedly recovering well from injury, are the only additions for the global tournament to the T20 squad to face South Africa at the end of the ongoing tour.
Chris Woakes is the omission from that 14-man party, to make way for Dawson as an extra spinner and back-up to Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali.
Asked what he knows of Dawson, Bayliss said: “Not a real lot. I haven’t actually seen him play a game. He came to a practice when we were out in the UAE, and he was there with the Lions.”
Dawson’s character, as well as his cricket, has already struck a chord with Bayliss.
He added: “I went to one or two of their practices and saw him in the nets. From a bowling point of view, he gets a bit on the ball, and he looks as though he’s got something about him personality-wise. He can bat as well, and he’s a good fielder apparently.”
It was confirmed in Wednesday morning’s squad announcement that there will be no place for Kevin Pietersen, the mercurial batsman whose exile from the national team has extended beyond two years since he was axed after England’s 2013-14 whitewash Ashes defeat.
Bayliss made it clear that a Pietersen return simply is not on the agenda.
“He wasn’t even discussed in the selection meeting,” he said.
“Everyone is very happy with the young team we’ve got … we’ve played very well in Twenty20 cricket over the last six months.We just want to move forward with that young team.”
Dawson’s chance to press for a place in it came as a shock to him, via a telephone call from national selector James Whitaker over the weekend.
The 25-year-old recalled: “He said ‘Well done on the winter’, then asked if I’d booked any holidays for March. Luckily I hadn’t – because then he told me I was in the Twenty20 squad.”
“I definitely wasn’t expecting it. It’s a dream come true – you do all that training as a kid hoping it might happen one day. It’s obviously an amazing tournament to be involved in – especially being in India as well, which will be an exciting thing to experience” he added.
Woakes is “very unlucky”, according to Bayliss, to be missing the trip.
He said: “With the World (T20) being in India, we’ve decided to take three spinners on that trip. He’s disappointed, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. If it was maybe somewhere else in the world, he could have maybe been one of the lucky ones.
Finn, meanwhile, is back on track to lead the attack as he continues his recovery from the side strain which ended his South Africa tour early.
“There was a chance he could have been available for the last Twenty20 match here. But we decided let’s not take too many chances and make sure he’s right for the World Cup.”
