Liam had a dummy run in US
HOW do you prepare for an England one-day tour in Sri Lanka if you are spending six weeks in the USA planning your wedding?
If you’re Liam Plunkett, it is by heading down to the local indoor baseball arena and bowling at a lifesize mannequin to make sure you are ready to go.
Plunkett has been a mainstay of the one-day side as their secondhighest wicket taker since the last World Cup.
But he was forced to miss the first three games of this series because of his wedding to long-term partner and Pennsylvanian local Emeleah, which was planned around what they thought was the Test leg of the tour. A late switch of itinerary that moved the one-dayers to the start of the trip, meant he was too far gone in the planning for 75 American guests to cancel their flights.
So while he was spending time in West Chester he took six cricket balls, found some stumps, marked out a 22-yard pitch in a baseball diamond and got to work. “It was a big enough area to get my full run-up in and with the mannequins pretty much resembling a batter shaping to hit you out of the park I got my overs in,” said Plunkett. “I got the rolling measuring wheel for the right pitch length – they were looking at me weird, but I had to do it, and if I’d known that facility was available I’d have been doing that the last 10 years every time I went there. “I could practise my skills and practise my yorkers. It’s about getting your overs up and I bowled about 40 per week.” Travelling to Sri Lanka became part of the honeymoon. “I got married and couldn’t just say, ‘Cheers, thanks for being my wife! See you in a month’. It’s nice that she gets to come out. She’s doing her own thing while we train and I’m glad to be here. “It’s good to have some credit in the bank, but if someone comes in and gets four or five then it’s hard to say no to them. But that’s just sport. “I’ve missed a lot of games in the past so I know the drill, but if I get a chance I can do what I do.” Opener Jonny Bairstow was a doubt for the fourth ODI that began in the early hours this morning after twisting his ankle playing football in training. Bairstow, who is also in the squad for the forthcoming Test series, was not sent for a scan but questions about the wisdom of playing football before games and net sessions are sure to resurface. The players are known to be strongly in favour of the fun workout and have even awarded each other ‘fantasy football’ price tags on this trip. But the presence of the recalled Joe Denly in the squad offers a reminder that it was not always so welcome. He suffered a knee injury after a challenge from team-mate Owais Shah in 2009 and football was banned for a time by then England coach Andy Flower.