Liam Plunkett on England’s one-day international rise, a World Cup on home soil and his future at Yorkshire
Plunkett is now free to speak to other counties, with Middlesex believed to be at the head of the queue for his services
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Your support makes all the difference.Liam Plunkett knows a stand-out summer of one-day cricket will be crucial to his chances of featuring in next year’s World Cup and finding a new county after so far failing to agree an extension to his current deal with Yorkshire.
Plunkett has been one of England’s senior bowlers in the 50-over team’s rise to the top of the world rankings and tomorrow’s second ODI against Australia in Cardiff will be his 68th appearance in this format for his country.
The 33-year-old played a key role in last Wednesday’s three-wicket victory in the series opener at The Oval, taking three for 42 with the ball and then sharing a 21-run stand with David Willey that helped Eoin Morgan’s team chase down 215.
Indeed, since returning to one-day team two years ago Plunkett has taken 60 wickets from 32 matches, leaving him with a strike-rate of 30.7 - the best by an England bowler in ODI history.
It is remarkable then that he has was dropped from Yorkshire’s 50-over team for the One-Day Cup match against Northamptonshire last week and he has not yet been offered an extension to his contract that runs out at the end of the summer.
Plunkett is now free to speak to other counties, with Middlesex believed to be at the head of the queue for his services.
He said: “I felt in a good place – but I had one bad performance, and if they want to drop me on that…
“They said I wasn’t ready, that I looked under-cooked. I feel I was coming into a good place and can help win games for Yorkshire so I was disappointed and I let them know that.
“It’s my last year and I went in for a chat with Martyn Moxon [director of cricket], and obviously as you get a little bit older you maybe think about your base salary coming down and you’re playing for incentives and stuff but I didn’t really get offered anything.
“They just said ‘we’ll look into it in the next month or so’ but it gives me a right to speak to other counties and I’m looking to do that.”
The other area of uncertainty for Plunkett is his England place given he is missing part of this winter’s ODI series in Sri Lanka to get married. Originally scheduled for November, Cricket Sri Lanka switched the dates of the limited-overs and Test series, meaning Plunkett’s wedding to his American fiancée Emeleah Erb on October 13 now falls during the one-dayers.
“We planned because originally it was a Test series that was there,” he explained. “I mean we’ve been together eleven years, it’s been long enough so I thought I’d better get married.
“We did look at schedules and the best time to do it and we got into it and there was flights booked from America and a lot of guests coming over so it was so hard to change it then. I’m really excited to get married but I am going to miss part of that series.”
That adds greater emphasis on Plunkett’s performances this summer as he looks to cement his place in England’s XI for next year’s World Cup on home soil.
“All I can do is try and do well for England this summer to keep me in mind going forward,” he said. “I think I miss two [games]. It’s not the end of the world but people can come in and play well. If people play ahead of me, fair enough I’ll want them to do well, that’s the nature of sport.”
England’s management, keenly aware of the toll the international schedule takes on players’ personal lives, have been sympathetic.
“I think they understand what’s happened, because I was so deep in the preparation,” said Plunkett. “I’m so excited and can’t wait for the day that I’m not going to change and ruin everything for her.”
As for the immediate matter of this five-match one-day series against Australia, England, who are expected to be unchanged in Cardiff, are looking for a more clinical performance after they scrambled home at The Oval on Wednesday.
Australia, weakened by the absence of banned pair Steve Smith and David Warner plus fast bowlers Pat Cummins, Josh Hazelwood and Mitchell Starc, appear there for the taking. And Plunkett admits England are looking to win the series 5-0.
“You’re always looking for a whitewash,” he said. “But you can’t rest on your laurels. So we’re looking for complete performances.”
Australia got off lightly at The Oval, with the expected crowd hostility over their ball-tampering in South Africa earlier this year never materialising.
Cardiff could be different but if the Australians do get flak from the crowd they will get little sympathy from England.
“I don’t feel sorry for them,” said Plunkett. “You’re going to get it – it’s part of sport. I’m sure it would be the same if someone on the England team had done that. You get plenty of stick when you go and play against Australia Down Under.”
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