England’s Olly Stone, who made his ODI debut in the washed-out first match of the series against Sri Lanka says that he is living a dream playing for England, after being ravaged by an injury two years back.
In his six over spell in the second ODI at Dambulla, Stone dismissed Niroshan Dickwella with a ferocious bouncer to take his maiden ODI wicket and finished with figures of 6-0-23-1.
“It’s been crazy. When I got injured, if someone had said that two years later you’d be playing for England, I would have snapped their hand off,” 25-year-old Stone said. “It is a dream come true. It’s been a whirlwind few months and I’m just loving it.
“It is always a nice feeling to see them (batsmen) ducking and diving. I am trying to figure out when to go all guns blazing and when to hold back a little bit. I guess there is a little bit more to come. I just run in and see what happens. If more comes then great.”
Bowling on pitches in the sub-continent is new for Stone. “It’s tough given the conditions, trying to figure out how your body will handle it, and not wanting to go all guns blazing at the start and blow out,” he said. “I’ve tried this year to go a little bit up and down the gears to try and look after my body. I have had a few injuries. Just trying to figure out when to go all guns blazing and when to hold back a little bit. That has been something I’ve worked on.”
“I’d love to be part of the World Cup squad. I’ve come into this tour not really knowing what to expect and the boys have been great, and there is an opportunity to try to put your foot in the door and hopefully from these few games I can put in a good performance and show what I can do,” he said.
