Willey facing up to Archer challenge
David Willey is hoping to tame a short boundary in St Kitts and lock down his World Cup place, but accepts England face an “interesting dilemma” over Jofra Archer.
Willey’s left-arm swing has been a regular part of England’s limited-overs setup over the past four years, playing 67 of his country’s 114 white-ball matches since the last tournament.
Ordinarily he would be inked in to make the 15-man cut but the imminent availability of Barbados-born Archer represents a challenge to the established pecking order, with the likes of Willey and Tom Curran potentially vulnerable.
In any circumstances bowling on the modestly proportioned Warner Park in Basseterre could be daunting.
Doing so in Twenty20s on Friday and Sunday, against a West Indies side led by the bighitting Chris Gayle, appears positively perilous.
“They are all short boundaries, aren’t they? It’s going to be a challenge,” Willey said on the eve of the second T20 of the series.
“The breeze probably knocks a good 10-20 metres off one side as well. As a bowler, you have to be smart and try to get them to hit to the long side, if there is one, or at least into the wind. It could come down to who bowls as smartly as they can.”
Regardless of what transpires over the next two games, Archer’s name will continue to be dropped liberally.
He has never been far from the conversation in recent weeks and head coach Trevor Bayliss has assured him of a chance to audition ahead of the World Cup.
“It’s an interesting dilemma for the captain, coaches, selectors,” said Willey.
“I imagine every bowler sat in that dressing room will be trying to make sure it’s not them that gets left out should that happen.”