‘I was jealous’: Liam Plunkett opens up about his exclusion from the England squad

Fast bowler Liam Plunkett, who represented England in several international games, opened up about when he was out of the national cricket team.

The right-arm pacer has revealed that he couldn’t watch England matches during that period because he wasn’t happy at missing out. Notably, Plunkett has seen many ups and downs in his international career. He debuted for England back in 2005 but wasn’t a consistent member of the team.

Plunkett last appeared for England in the 2019 ODI World Cup final against New Zealand. He did pretty well in the summit clash, finishing with figures of 3/42, including the prized scalp of Kiwi skipper Kane Williamson.

However, after the World Cup, the North Yorkshire cricketer was dropped from the England team. Overall, Plunkett played 13 Tests, 89 ODIs and 22 T20Is, taking 41, 135 and 25 wickets, respectively. Speaking about his struggles during the time when he was facing many hurdles to get a place in the national side, Plunkett said that he had even stopped watching England cricket at one point.

“I don’t think I watched any England games during that time (when Plunkett was struggling in County cricket and was in the reserves for Durham around 2011-2012) because I was jealous of not being there. I might have watched the odd highlight, but I’d never sat down and watch a game. Now it’s the opposite, and I’m more than happy to watch England. I’ll even get up early in the US to watch them,” Plunkett told The Cricketer.

Despite performing well in the 2019 ODI World Cup, where he picked up 11 wickets from seven games, Plunkett has now been out of favour. The 36-year-old expressed his disappointment for whatever happened with him post the 50-over global event, but he also stated that he was happy to be part of the World Cup-winning unit.

“I’d be lying if I said I didn’t miss England, You practice and play with them constantly, watch them improve, and that inspires you to get better. I consider pretty much all of the England guys my friends, and then all of a sudden, you’re not a part of that picture anymore. You go from spending months away with these people and going out for dinner together and things like that to it stopping.”

“England is the highest team I can play for, and I was disappointed with how it all finished, but I can take my last game for them being a win in a World Cup final. I’d definitely have taken that when I was playing for Durham seconds a few years before,” Plunkett added.

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