Willey is facing axe from World Cup
DAVID WILLEY looks certain to be confirmed as the odd man out in England’s final World Cup squad today.
A long meeting of the selectors at Lord’s last night appeared to conclude that Willey will make way for Jofra Archer to claim the final bowling place in England’s squad that has seemed certain to be his ever since he qualified for the land of his father.
There will also be disappointment for Joe Denly, who is set to miss out, with Hampshire’s Liam Dawson coming in as back-up spinner, even though he was not selected for England’s 17-man squad for the warm-up series against Pakistan.
It will be a cruel blow for Willey, who has been a regular member of England’s squad on their rise to the top of the one-day rankings ever since they identified the need for a left-arm swing bowler in their white-ball attack.
But an impressive series against Pakistan with both ball and bat for his nearest rival in Tom Curran and captain Eoin Morgan’s faith in the enduring wicket-taking skills of Liam Plunkett has left Willey on the outside.
The Yorkshire bowler will be told his World Cup dream is not completely over as he will be placed on standby for a six-week tournament that is likely to see injuries play a part, with Mark Wood, in particular, still having problems with his fragile left ankle.
Denly owed his place in the provisional squad to the belief of national selector Ed Smith that he is the perfect utility player who can cover the top seven and his leg-spin can provide cover for Adil Rashid and Moeen Ali.
Yet it has become clear Denly is not the best option as spare spinner and once England had decided James Vince was the best option as their back-up opener in the absence of Alex Hales, then the Kent man became vulnerable.
Left-arm spinner Dawson only lost his white-ball place in Sri Lanka last winter to injury and the selectors are happy that his outstanding form for his county is enough match practice to throw him straight into the squad, with warm-up matches to come against Australia on Saturday and Afghanistan on Monday.
It will be left to Smith to reveal England’s squad at Lord’s this morning but it is the hand of Morgan that will be all over it, with England keen to give the captain who has achieved so much the players he wants by his side for the tournament.
‘If ever it gets down to stalemate in our talks then the captain will have a big say,’ said England coach Trevor Bayliss.
‘He’s got to be the one comfortable walking out with the other ten players.
‘Whatever 15 we end up with, I will be happy because everyone deserves to be there, but we will all feel for whoever misses out.’
That looks certain to be Willey and Denly.