Liam Is Ready To Relive Old Glory

Richard Edwards looks forward to Liam Plunkett’s arrival Down Under for the ODI series – 11 years after his first

- Richard Edwards

Liam Plunkett is taking a giant leap into the unknown as he heads to the UAE for the first global T10 tournament this week – but by the time the one-day leg of the Australia tour rolls around he’ll be back in very familiar territory.

The Yorkshire pace bowler was just 21 when he played in his first one-day series Down Under in the winter of 2006.

Then, as now, the Test series hadn’t gone exactly to plan but Plunkett – then with Durham – bowled with pace and skill to take 12 wickets as England stormed to victory in the CB Series.

It was quite some entrance. A mystery then, that he would play just five more ODIs before March 2010. His next trip to Australia with England would involve a 12,000-mile mercy dash from the Caribbean, where he was playing with the Lions, to play a solitary match against the Aussies in Perth. He scored 20 with the bat and took 2-49 with the Kookaburra ball before being discarded again, this time for four years.

Still only 32, it’s little wonder that Plunkett looks back on his England career with something approaching puzzlement, particularly as he’s now viewed as the spearhead of his country’s attack in 50 over cricket.