WILL POWER
England cruise in as all-rounder puts case for World Cup
DAVID WILLEY, who bristled when asked if it was right for Jofra archer to gatecrash england’s World Cup party, made a convincing case for his own inclusion last night when he spearheaded another demolition of West Indies and a twenty20 whitewash.
Willey took four wickets in three overs in St Kitts to send West Indies crashing to 24 for four in the last game of england’s Caribbean tour. they had capitulated to 45 all out in the second of this three-match series.
It was no surprise West Indies never recovered and, after they were demolished for 71 in 13 overs, england cruised to their target in 10.3 overs for an eight-wicket win.
this was a personal triumph for Willey, who came into the series as the most likely bowler to be replaced in the showpiece tournament this summer by archer.
Willey was left out for the whole of the one- day series and then struggled in the first twenty20 match.
But once he got his feelings on archer off his chest, he appeared inspired in the last two games of this trip.
In the game on Friday, Willey helped rescue england with the bat and then took the first two West Indies wickets to fall.
Yesterday, he ripped the heart out of the vulnerable West Indies batting line-up with that left-arm seam variation that could yet prove so valuable this summer.
‘I’d like to think so,’ said Willey when asked if his performance has enhanced his World Cup hopes. ‘It’s a different format but as long as I’m taking wickets up front then I’m happy. there wasn’t any swing but I was able to force some errors from the West Indies batsmen and that’s my role.’
the tone was set from the very first ball of the innings when Shai hope chipped Willey tamely to cover. and once he had opened the door, england charged through — mark Wood completing his outstanding tour with three wickets of his own on his return in place of Liam Plunkett. there were also three catches for Chris Jordan, who has done his chances of a late World Cup charge no harm in three stand- out matches. Jordan said: ‘to bowl a team of that quality out twice for under a hundred is very satisfying. I just tried to be adaptable in these games and play the conditions. I’m not thinking of the World Cup too much. I’ll let the process take care of itself.’ It was shambolic from West Indies yesterday after they picked their one-day side with a view to World Cup practice, led by Jason holder, for this series rather than Carlos Brathwaite’s World twenty20 champions. It was a surprise Dawid malan was not given a game by england, even though the series was won.
alex hales got england’s reply off to a flyer with 20 off 13 balls before falling to an excellent boundary catch by John Campbell.
Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root then did the lion’s share of the work to ensure there were no more alarms as england strolled home.
now all attention will be focused on 50- over cricket and the bigger challenge of a home World Cup to come. With or without archer.
It was also a satisfying way for Paul Farbrace, an unsung hero of england’s white-ball revolution, to bow out after five productive years as assistant coach before he joins Warwickshire next week as their new sports director.