David Willey was unquestionably a key component in the England rocket that soared to the final of the World Twenty20, finishing up as their leading wicket-taker and one of four from the runners-up to be named in the team of the tournament.
Yet despite this impressive arrival on the world stage at the end of his first full year as an England cricketer, the fiery all-rounder is adamant he will not be fully satisfied should his international career end up being one that has come solely with a white ball in hand.
It is what drove the 26-year-old to swap his hometown club Northamptonshire for Yorkshire over the winter. While other counties were interested, and better financial deals on the table, Willey believes if he can crack the first XI of the defending county champions and become integral to their bowling attack, he could one day follow in the footsteps of his father, Peter, and realise the dream of becoming a Test cricketer.
“Test cricket is the pinnacle, still,” says Willey, who will be straining at the leash to make his championship debut for the club against Warwickshire on Sunday. “I understand I’ve got a long way to go in first-class cricket to maybe get Test recognition but I hope this move is a stepping stone to doing that.
“It was a no-brainer, provided Yorkshire were wanting to have me here: working with the quality of the staff here, playing alongside some great players and the chance to learn from [fellow left-arm seamer] Ryan Sidebottom as well – it’s got everything, the full package for me, and the chance to win some silverware.”
Whether Willey’s Test ambition can be realised is moot but it demonstrates a problem, of sorts, for an England management keen to encourage greater specialism, as shown by their gently nudging Jos Buttler into the Indian Premier League this summer and not fighting for a Test recall at Lancashire instead.
Andrew Strauss, the director of England cricket, has spoken about greater separation of the Test and limited-overs squads and yet convincing the players themselves remains the tricky part because Tests are still seen by the majority as the ultimate. This, and wanting to bed in at Headingley, is why Willey politely ignored a similar suggestion to enter the IPL auction.
“I moved here to play Division One red-ball cricket,” says Willey, who has 148 wickets in 58 first-class games. “If you look at the fixture list, go to the IPL and, if you are in the England one-day set-up, you end up being available for just a handful of championship games. And that defeats the object of me moving here.
“If people pigeonhole me, so be it, but I’d like to think I haven’t been pigeonholed. I think it’s becoming well known that to play Test cricket, you need to be playing and performing in Division One. So I’m here at Yorkshire now and hopefully when I get the opportunity, I can perform and put my name in the hat.”
His new employers are delighted, with two years of championship domination in no way diminishing their desire for a first limited-overs trophy since 2002. Willey’s acquisition is mutually beneficial: he strengthens the club’s short-form teams immediately, and they provide him with a Division One platform from which to push his Test case long term.
In addition to this, Willey has a buddy in his new mentor, Sidebottom. The former England man, who has just passed 1,000 career wickets across all formats, appears the ideal man from which to perfect the art of left-arm fast-medium, while Yorkshire now have the 38-year-old’s eventual successor in place.
Willey, who says playing for a smaller club such as Northamptonshire sees bowlers “wheeled out” for as many games as possible, will also benefit from being part of a larger squad. His new head coach, Jason Gillespie, is planning a more targeted approach from which to get maximum impact from his new recruit.
“When Dave signed we told him he would not play every game,” Gillespie says. “We’ll manage him, so when he does play he is fully firing. We see him as an attacking bowler. We won’t flog him for 25-odd overs in a day, we want him to be aggressive, pitch the ball up and swing it. We want to encourage his attacking mindset.”
While England used Willey the batsman as a lower-order insurance policy during the World Twenty20 – it paid dividends in Delhi when a stand of 57 with Moeen Ali prevented an embarrassing exit against Afghanistan – the left-hander will get his desired spot as opener in this summer’s Natwest T20 Blast, having shone there for Northamptonshire in their victorious 2013 campaign and since.
It is easy, therefore, to see what attracted Willey to Yorkshire and vice versa. However, the deal would not have happened without the say-so of his father Peter, the tough-as-nails former Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and England all-rounder who remains the biggest influence on his career.
“My dad has been around the scene for 49 years, so he knows where there is a good set-up,” Willey Jr says. “He’s been my main point of call – if he can’t give me the best advice, I don’t know who can. I’ve always wanted to follow in his footsteps and play Test cricket.”
