- England ended their tournament with a win against Pakistan in Kolkata
- David Willey will not be part of the future ODI squad after his retirement
- Willey said: ‘My time is up, because I asked for time, but it is with regret’
England captain Jos Buttler was confident there will be no ‘major eviction’ of the England ODI squad after they ended their disastrous World Cup campaign with a win against Pakistan in Kolkata to secure qualification for the Champions Trophy.
“It won’t be a drastic change in playing style like in 2015,” Buttler said. ‘We know where we need to go. That does not mean there is a huge clean-up. It’s business as usual from here,” he added.
Tough changes are expected when England announce their white-ball squads on Sunday for their tour to the West Indies next month, but head coach Matthew Mott insisted those changes would always happen regardless of how the World Cup went, and that the selectors saw it. as an opportunity to give younger and inexperienced players a chance.
‘That would be the way: win, lose or draw. It’s a chance to have a slightly different look with a lot of cricket coming up for the red ballers too, Mott said.
One player who certainly won’t be on that trip is David Willey, who marked his final England appearance by taking three for 56, including his 100th ODI wicket, and revealed his ‘mixed’ emotions after announcing his retirement while playing ‘the best cricket of his career’. ‘
David Willey, pictured left next to Jos Buttler, will retire after this World Cup campaign
Matthew Mott’s side signed off with a win but endured a dreadful defense of their Cricket World Cup title
‘My time is up, because I asked for time, but it is with great regret. “I think anyone looking in has probably looked at the way I’ve gone about my business and I’m probably playing the best cricket of my career,” Willey said. ‘I’m 33, as fit as I’ve ever been. “One of the reasons I wasn’t offered a contract was because they went in a different direction after the World Cup, I don’t know why,” he added.
And Willey admitted the prospect of retirement was already on his mind before England headed to India for the World Cup.
‘If I’m completely honest, I wasn’t sure I was even going to get to the World Cup until the eleventh hour when we got together at Lords. I still wasn’t sure if I would make the trip or not. From then on, it was something I thought about, Willey said.
‘It’s not just that I didn’t get a contract. It’s how I feel valued as an England player when I look at the list of other guys on contract. I had spoken to my family, I had spoken to Jos (Buttler), Motty (Mot) and then came to the decision that the time was right to end it all and make sure I get a few cricket matches out of my last because it’s special, wearing this shirt is special and I didn’t want to walk away with tainted memories of playing for my country.”
Willey finished the tournament with 11 wickets in his six matches at an average of 23.54. Only Adil Rashid took more wickets than him for Buttler’s side and Willey revealed that finding himself as the only member of the England World Cup to miss out on a contract motivated him after announcing his retirement midway through the tournament.
“I think Keysy (Rob Key) said, ‘I hope you can prove me wrong,’ so maybe I did it the last few games,” Willey said.
People may have frowned upon the timing there, but for me personally, there aren’t many options to walk away from cricket on your terms. “I wanted to enjoy my last three games and not look over my shoulder because I thought I would be left out of the team after one bad performance.”
Stokes has also hinted he may withdraw from the one-day format. “The reason I left was because of the workload,” he said. ‘I am Test captain and I want to do a lot with that team. It’s something I’ll have to think about again.’