England seamer David Willey will retire from international cricket at the end of the World Cup, unhappy after missing out on a central contract.
The 33-year-old was the only member of the touring party in India not to receive a new deal last week and “wasn’t best pleased”, in the words of Rob Key, managing director of England men’s cricket.
A total of 26 players were handed new terms, with three more on pace development deals, leaving Willey in the strange position of pondering his immediate future while simultaneously trying to turn around England’s tanking campaign.
The left-armer has held up his side of the bargain, taking five wickets in three games and delivering the best economy rate of the six fast bowlers England have used at the tournament.
Willey channelled his growing frustrations in the perfect way in Lucknow at the weekend, taking a fine haul of three for 45 including star batter Virat Kohli for a nine-ball duck, but has now resolved to walk away.
Despite five defeats in six games of their World Cup defence, England’s players have lined up one after the other to praise the unity and morale in the squad.
But, in revealing his decision with three group games still to go, starting with rivals Australia in Ahmedabad on Saturday, Willey’s timing frames his personal frustrations.
Revealing the news in an emotive Instagram post, Willey wrote: “I never wanted this day to come. From a young boy, I’ve only ever dreamed of playing cricket for England.
“So, with careful thought and consideration, it is with great regret that I feel the time has come for me to retire from all forms of international cricket at the end of the World Cup.
“I have worn the shirt with immense pride and given my absolute everything to the badge on my chest.
“I’ve been very lucky to be a part of such an incredible white-ball team with some of the best players in the world.
“I’ve made some special memories and great friends along the way and been through some very difficult times.”
Willey has played 70 ODIs and 43 T20s and England must now decide whether to continue picking him for their remaining games against Australia, the Netherlands and Pakistan or use the moment to move on.
Sam Curran stands by as the most obvious replacement, as a left-arm swing bowler and attacking lower-order batter, while Surrey’s Gus Atkinson has played just once so far.
Both options are 25 and would represent an investment in the future, but England must also balance the need for an instant change in fortunes with a place at the 2025 Champions Trophy on the line.
“I feel I still have a lot more to give on and off the field while I am still playing my best cricket, and my decision has nothing to do with our performance during the World Cup,” he continued.
“I’m sure everybody who knows me does not doubt that, whatever my involvement in the remainder of this campaign, I will give my everything and more! That’s the only way I know.”
Announcing the new batch of central contracts in Bangalore last week, Key admitted an annoyed Willey had been unlucky to miss out.
“It’s fair to say David Willey wasn’t best pleased, as you can understand, being the only one not to get a contract,” he said.
“It’s bloody tough, to be honest. We’d love to live in a world where you can just say we have a pot of extra cash and you can just give him one because he’s coming out here for the World Cup.”
Willey missed out on England’s 2019 World Cup triumph in devastating fashion, named in the initial 15-man squad only to be axed at the last minute to make way for the newly available Jofra Archer.
That could have been the end of his international career but he fought his way back into contention and found a way back in when England needed two separate squads following the coronavirus pandemic.
He went on to be part of the T20 World Cup-winning squad in Australia last year.
Imlach puts Harpy Eagles’ West Indies Championship success down to togetherness- “We had different players stand up at different times”
Togetherness was the main reason for the Guyana Harpy Eagles successful defence of their West Indies Championship title according to skipper Tevin Imlach.
The Harpy Eagles recovered from a draw and a loss in their first two games to win their final five games on their way to winning their second straight title.
“We had different players stand up at different times which is very important,” Imlach said in an appearance on the Mason & Guest radio show on Tuesday.
“You never want to rely on one or two players. We have a lot of depth in our batting and we have three very good spinners that would’ve played for the West Indies already in Gudakesh Motie, Veerasammy Permaul and Kevin Sinclair,” Imlach added.
Sinclair and Imlach finished third and sixth on the top run scorers list with 508 and 485 runs, respectively.
Sinclair made one hundred and two fifties and finished with an average of 63.50 in his seven games while Imlach, who missed the first two rounds of the tournament while on West Indies duty, made two hundreds and three fifties in his five games and finished with an average of 53.88.
The Harpy Eagles also had two more batsmen cross the 300-run mark in Kevlon Anderson (332) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (323). Kemol Savory narrowly missed out on joining this club after finishing with 289. Chanderpaul and Savory also both scored a century, each, this season.
It was also a collective effort with the ball for the champions. Permaul led the way with 29 wickets in seven games followed by pacer Nial Smith who finished with 20 wickets from four matches.
Motie and Isai Thorne followed with 19 wickets from five and six matches, respectively, while Kevin Sinclair took 13 wickets in seven games and Ronaldo Alimohamed took 12 wickets in six outings.
This season was also Imlach’s first captaining the Harpy Eagles in the four-day format after taking over from the retired Leon Johnson who led Guyana to six regional four-day titles.
“It was challenging,” Imlach said about filling Johnson’s shoes.
“Big shoes to fill obviously with Leon Johnson retiring but it was good. It is much different when you play with these guys and when you’re in a leadership position because you have to be the one making the calls that they may not necessarily always like. These players want the ball in their hands at all times and want to make a difference so sometimes it is difficult. It’s a good learning experience. I’m learning about them and they’re learning about me as well,” he added.
Imlach was also a member of the West Indies Test squad to Australia in December last year. He said that despite not getting a game, he took some things from his net sessions down under into this first-class season.
“It was very good. It was different to what we are accustomed to in the Caribbean. The pitches are a lot bouncier and the ball tends to seam around a bit more. I didn’t manage to play in the games but I spent some time in the nets and it was good. It was fruitful. I learned a lot that I took into this season,” he said.
Imlach's next assignment could be as part of the regional side to take on England in three Tests from July 10-30.
Nortje makes international return for South Africa's T20 World Cup squad
Anrich Nortje earned a recall to South Africa's fold as he was included in the Proteas' 15-man squad for the T20 World Cup.
Nortje has been in action in the Indian Premier League, but has not played for South Africa, who will be captained by Aiden Markram, in nine months.
While he has taken seven wickets in six matches for the Delhi Capitals, Nortje has gone at 13.36 runs per over, but has been given the nod due to his pace.
"Anrich has got another month before the World Cup starts so I have no doubt he'll hit his straps," South Africa coach Rob Walter said.
"It's good to see that his speed is up. The one thing Anrich has that separates him from others is raw pace. There's not many guys who can bowl 150kph and he can. Pace is an X-factor."
Lungi Ngidi has missed out, though he is a travelling reserve.
Quinton de Kock has not not been in good form, but has made the cut due to historical performances. He is no longer under contract at Cricket South Africa (CSA) and retired from ODIs last year.
"Quinny, we've seen him do it time and time again for us," Walter said.
"Reeza [Hendricks] has been a star performer for us in T20 cricket, was a standout in this domestic CSA T20 challenge again, and Ryan Rickelton has had two outstanding competitions really where he's played the brand of cricket that we're looking to play.
"And then we're going to have Markram and that'll be the top order. It's mostly a performance-based decision and from Quinton's point of view is just a real knowledge of what he's capable of."
Rickelton and Ottniel Baartman have been standout performers in the SA20 this year, and could earn their maiden T20I caps.
South Africa did not make it out of the Super 12 stage at the last World Cup in 2022.
Three big players, Temba Bavuma, Rilee Rossouw and Wayne Parnell, have missed out compared to the squad for that tournament.
The Proteas start their World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka on June 3, after playing a warm-up series against West Indies.
South Africa squad:
Aiden Markram (capt), Ottniel Baartman, Gerald Coetzee, Quinton de Kock, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs.
IPL: Stoinis key for LSG as they rise to third after seeing off Indians
Marcus Stoinis starred for Lucknow Super Giants as they edged to a four-wicket victory over Mumbai Indians to move into third in the Indian Premier League.
Mumbai's chances of another high-scoring innings were dented early on as Ishan Kishan's low lob was taken by Mayank Yadav before Suryakumar Yadav was caught behind and walked after a successful Lucknow review inside the first three overs.
The Indians struggled to get going, and even Nehal Wadhera's 46 from 41 balls and Tim David's unbeaten 35 off 18 were not enough to drag Mumbai over the 150 mark as they finished their 20 overs on 144-7.
Having been left out of India's T20 World Cup squad, Lucknow captain KL Rahul managed 28 before he was dismissed in the fourth over.
But thanks to Stoinis' heavy lifting, as he plundered 62, including seven fours and two sixes, LSG looked set to cruise to victory.
The momentum stalled, though, when Stoinis was caught out by Tilak Varma, but Nicholas Pooran and Krunal Pandya eventually saw them over the line with just four balls left to play with.
Data Debrief: Another happy away day for Stoinis
This is the third game in which Stoinis has passed 50, and he has enjoyed another high score away from home after reaching 124 in LSG's trip to Chennai Super Kings.
Despite making an early exit, Rahul (406), is now up to fourth in the race for this season's orange cap, although Virat Kohli continues to set the pace with 500 runs.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
