Towards the more tedious end of the modern sporting lexicon sits the phrase “an aggressive brand of cricket”. While its intention is laudable – and its origin almost certainly Australian – by the time the most recent World Cup came around, it seemed as if players, captains and coaches from every country were trotting it out. Saying it tended to be followed by playing it, at least.
No so England. Peter Moores certainly uttered the words when the microphone was in front of the head coach but his side’s group-stage exit was so underwhelming and their approach so cautious as to think they were striving to coin an expression of their own. A tepid trademark of cricket, perhaps. A pathetic patent.
But now they are back at the start of the four-year cycle – the road to the 2019 World Cup on home soil – and while the ludicrous scheduling of a one-day international in Dublin so close to the recent tour to the Caribbean has forced the hands of the selectors, the 13-man squad to face Ireland on Friday is at least packed with fresh faces who could, given time and space to breathe, embrace this attacking intent modern one-day cricket demands.
Among them is Northamptonshire’s David Willey, an all-action all-rounder who is prone to innings or spells of significant impact and certainly ticks the aggressive box, with a feisty approach to the game that means his effort will never be questioned. Think back to Twenty20 finals day in 2013, when he destroyed Surrey with bat and ball to claim the club’s first trophy in 21 years, striking a 35-ball 60 as an opener before claiming four for nine with his left-arm swingers.
That initial salvo with the bat sparked a running verbal battle with Jade Dernbach, with Willey enjoying the last laugh with a match-sealing hat-trick as the tail-ender looked on from the non-striker’s end. A press conference of jaw-dropping honesty then followed, in which he expressed an unreserved dislike for his opponent. While a back injury has delayed his international bow since, he insists that now he is fit again that edge to his game has not been lost.
“It was one of those things in the final – you cross the line and you are competitive on the pitch. There are no hard feelings [with Jade] there, it was just competitiveness,” Willey says now. “You’ve seen it with Ben Stokes and Marlon Samuels in the Caribbean recently, it has always been part of cricket but with modern technology, it is slightly more obvious to the public. There is a line you don’t cross but most of the time I like to think I know where that is.”
His father, Peter Willey, is to thank for that particular character trait, with the bulk of his 26 Tests and 26 one-day internationals coming against West Indies in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when his fearless north-east grit was needed to counter the fastest attack in the world. That is not to say his later career as an umpire has not also trickled down to his son.
Willey Jr says: “It was a very proud moment to be selected for England and it would be great to follow my father in representing the country. For those who know him, he doesn’t give a lot away but he was proud. He’s a pretty tough guy and if I cross the line, he comes down pretty hard on me. He’s been in the game for 49 years and wants to keep the traditions going.
“I didn’t have heroes when I was younger – I always played and didn’t watch much. My father has always been my idol though and I’ve wanted to follow in his footsteps,” he adds. “He was called upon for the West Indies because of his toughness and I have inherited some of that. I obviously didn’t tell him when I was a kid but I’ve always wanted to produce something similar to him. There’s a long way to go but I’m slowly getting there, to trump what he’s done in his career.”
As the first Northamptonshire cricketer to be called up by England since Monty Panesar in 2006 – and the fourth to come through the county’s youth system post-war – Willey celebrated the news last Tuesday with 88 from 79 deliveries in a 92-run win over Leicestershire. Three wickets in four balls and a maiden first-class century reached in just 79 deliveries against Gloucestershire the week before further underline his penchant for grabbing a game by the scruff.
“I try to give myself a chance and then play a few shots. I want to be positive. If I get selected in the one-day side I’ll be batting lower down so they’ll look to me to score quickly – which I’m more than capable of. One day it can not go your way, another everything clicks at once. I try to have as much as a positive impact and influence games as much as I can. I want to be a game changer – that’s how I like to play my cricket.”
And with the ball? “I think everyone saw how successful left-armers were in the World Cup and I know I can swing a white ball. There are not many of us around at the moment and that’s how I’ve got my opportunity, so hopefully that bodes well for the future.”
That future starts with the latest England rebrand at the Malahide Cricket Club on Friday.
