- DAVID WILLEY (ENGLAND)
‘Wily Willy’ was certainly one of the brightest prospects for England in the tournament. A left-handed seam bowling all-rounder hailing from Northampton, the 26 year old David Willey has made quite an impression in his brief spell at the international level so far. It would not be wrong to assume that cricket flows in his blood as his father, Peter Willey too had been an international cricketer for England, playing 26 Tests and as many ODIs from 1976-86. Willey senior then went on to officiate 23 Tests and 34 ODIs between 1996 and 2003.
David who now represents Yorkshire in the English county circuit, made his international debut in a rain-curtailed ODI against Ireland in May last year where he bagged his first international wicket. He was then called up to the English team which squared off against New Zealand in a 5-match ODI series in June that same year. He finished with expensive figures in the third and fourth matches of that series, returning with figures of 3/69 and 2/89 respectively. His maiden T20I (played in the same series) accounted for figures of 3/22. England’s dominance in the ODI series (which they clinched by a narrow 3-2 margin) earned him a national call-up for the all-important ICC World T20. He did not disappoint the selectors either. He demonstrated decent form throughout the tournament, finishing with 10 wickets in 6 games with his best performance being a dual effort of 21 runs (off 14 balls) and a terrific spell of 3/20 which came against West Indies in the final at the Eden Gardens. He was one-fourth of the quartet which played a vital role in helping England reach the final (The others being Joe Root, Jason Roy and Jos Buttler). More of a bowling all-rounder, Willey has amassed 2,052 runs in 58 First Class games (including 2 tons and 14 fifties), besides claiming 148 wickets as of yet. Willey has been a fine exponent of classic left-arm seam bowling for the ‘Three Lions’, and apparently fits into their future scheme of things in limited-overs cricket. He can form a formidable pair with Ben Stokes (who’s more of a batting all-rounder) in the England line-up in a bid for succession to the phylum of Sir Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff and Stuart Broad.
