An indoor baseball diamond in the town of West Chester, Philadelphia, was the scene of Liam Plunkett’s preparations for Sri Lanka, with the fast bowler tuning up before his late arrival on tour by firing cricket balls at a plastic mannequin.
A switch in the Test and one-day legs of England’s first winter tour left Plunkett, one of Eoin Morgan’s go-to seamers, unavailable for the first two weeks of the trip, having already booked last weekend’s wedding to Emeleah Erb in the Cotswolds months earlier.
“I didn’t want to come here and be bare and out of shape,” said the 33-year-old, who arrived in Kandy with his bride on Tuesday for a cricket-themed honeymoon. “I found an indoor centre [in America], like a kids’ baseball diamond, and it was pretty much big enough area to get my full run-up in and get my overs in.
“I got a measuring wheel to mark out a pitch – people were looking at me weird – and it was AstroTurf, like Loughborough, so it was perfect. I borrowed some stumps and the mannequin resembled a batter, shaped like it was about to hit me out of the park. I took six new balls over with me and trained three times a week for four weeks. I enjoyed it. I knew I had to be ready straight away for this tour.”
England’s relaxed approach to Plunkett’s late arrival in Sri Lanka – he was unable to postpone the wedding due to half of the congregation having already booked flights – owes much to his status in the eyes of Morgan, with his 75 wickets in 44 matches since the last World Cup second only to Adil Rashid (114) in the squad.
Nevertheless, with Olly Stone and Tom Curran both impressing, and Mark Wood and Sam Curran unused before Saturday’s fourth ODI, the number of seamers vying for World Cup spots is stacking up. Plunkett added: “It’s good for the team that people come in and do well. England know what I can bring and, if I don’t get the nod, I will graft hard.
“People forget for the first seven years of my England career I didn’t play, I was 12th man the whole time. I know how to deal with the situation. It’s nice to have some credit in the bank but, if someone comes in and gets four or five wickets, then it’s hard to say no to them. We’ve seen it with the batting and the top two changing a bit.”
