Had it not been, quite literally, of England’s own volition, you might have blamed a mischievous alignment of the planets for the fact that David Willey was on media duty here at the Oval yesterday.
In the hours prior to the seamer’s press conference, what might have been a mundane morning net had been enlivened by the surprise presence of Jofra Archer, the man who famously (and justifiably) nabbed Willey’s World Cup place at the 11th hour four years ago milling about like the ghost of tournaments past.
Archer is not England’s squad for next month’s title defence, still recovering from a stress fracture with the potential of travelling as a reserve, but so it was that rather than spend much time looking ahead to this afternoon’s Third ODI against New Zealand, Willey spent the best part of his half-hour briefing being asked to reflect on 2019.
He did so with good grace, admitting to letting a tear slip out as the champagne flowed freely at Lord’s and insisting that, despite his inclusion in a provisional 15-man party, he will not be taking his spot on the flight to India this time around for granted until the seatbelt signs are off.
He also labelled himself the “donkey”, a self-deprecating gag but one not without a hint of self-promotion, too, the point being that across a long, testing tournament it might pay to be a workhorse when a few of England’s stallions don’t gallop quite as smoothly as they once did.
In the four years since the last World Cup, though he has never been a consensus pick in a first-choice XI, Willey has played more ODIs than any England seamer bar Sam Curran, three more than Chris Woakes, six more than Reece Topley and around twice as many as Mark Wood, Jofra Archer or Brydon Carse (Gus Atkinson, the other seamer involved in the ongoing New Zealand series only made his debut last week).
Some of those have been juggling Test commitments, true, but all have also spent significant periods on the sidelines, both with long-term injuries and the kind of persistent niggles that suggest squad rotation at this World Cup will be far more important than in 2019, when two of England’s XV did not play at all.
Then, on home soil, a seven-week tournament of 11 matches came with far less travel than awaits surfing India’s web of internal flights and, more importantly, was contested by a squad four years younger, largely within its athletic prime.
Just two matches into the ongoing New Zealand series, already Jason Roy has missed both games with a back spasm, Jonny Bairstow one with a shoulder complaint and Adil Rashid one-and-a-half with a tight calf. Wood, building up to full fitness, has not played at all.
That could, of course, be a coincidence, but more likely the inevitable strains of time are beginning to show on this golden core. Of the nine that remain from the 2019 triumph, Joe Root and Ben Stokes are the youngest, at 32. Of the six newcomers, only Atkinson and Curran could be said to belong to the next generation, at 25.
Teams are allowed to bring in replacements should players succumb to serious injury during the World Cup, but those swaps are irreversible and if, say, Wood picked up a strain that puts him out for two weeks during the group stage, England would hope to have enough interim cover within their squad to put off ending a key player’s tournament prematurely.
Having the odd donkey around to pick up the slack may be just what is required.
