Dave’s Will power
ENGLAND SET TO RULE WORLD
REVENGE, they say, is a dish best served cold. And it probably will be a bit cooler temperature-wise when England launch their latest T20 series against Australia in Tasmania this week.
But despite their overwhelming 4-1 triumph in the one-day battles, the buoyant England camp still want lots more sweet revenge for that earlier Ashes drubbing.
That is why they already have their eyes firmly set on grabbing Australia’s champions crown in next year’s 50-overs World Cup to rub even more salt into what has become something akin to a very painful national wound here.
The message was hammered home – literally – by David Willey after he put the Australians to the sword again last Friday, including five consecutive sixes off the Test team’s tormentor-in-chief Nathan Lyon.
Willey is not even guaranteed a game in Hobart but he is desperate to jump on to an looked back.
Tonight – if the Eagles upset the New England Patriots here in Minnesota – Ajayi can become just the fifth Britishborn player to lift the Vince Lombardi Trophy after Osi Umenyiora, Marvin Allen, Scott McCready and Lawrence Tynes.
And when asked what it would mean to him to join that elite group of Brit NFL stars by winning Super Bowl LII, Ajayi said: “Special. Something that nobody could ever take away from me.
“Being a Super Bowl champion is a lasting legacy, so that would be amazing. Being able to come home to London and being able to play and have that tag behind my name would be a blessing.
“It could bring a lot more exposure and awareness to the sport in the UK, so I think it would be cool.” The Eagles are England bandwagon that even the absent Ben Stokes might struggle to get aboard if present form is anything to go by.
“I was disappointed to be dropped, no one likes that,” he said.
“But I will keep working on my game and hopefully I will get a look-in.”
Then Willey delivered the warning that will have the Aussies even more anxious than they already are – even though England have not won a World Cup before.
“These next two games are so important for us,” he said. “If we continue playing well and can get a couple more wins that will give us great momentum to take into the World Cup. And that is the big one now.”
The bruised Aussies, red-faced after their white ball drubbing, also have revenge on their minds in a game that has become a personal trial for under-fire T20 skipper David Ajayi, born in London to Nigerian parents, moved to Texas in the United States when he was seven years old. A lifelong Arsenal fan, Ajayi joined the NFL ranks in 2015 after being drafted by Miami. But midway through this season the Dolphins traded Ajayi to Philly and the “Jay Train” has never Warner. “This doesn’t sit well with us at all,” he said.
“Sometimes we fall in a heap with our batting or we don’t start well with the ball – and we have to do something about it.”
Meanwhile, England Lions have jetted off to Jamaica with skipper Keaton Jennings urging the squad to build on their time in Australia before Christmas.
Jennings’ team-mates include two members of England’s Ashes squad – Ben Foakes and Mason Crane – as well as Liam Livingstone, before joining the Test tour of New Zealand.
Haseeb Hameed, Jamie Porter and Toby Roland-Jones are all ready to get back into competitive action after injury.
“The focus in Australia was on training and practice, with the bonus of a three-day game against Queensland and a T20 series against Perth Scorchers,” said Jennings, who is aiming to stake his claim to get back into the England team this winter. UP FOR THE CUP: England’s David Willey