England captain Jos Buttler warns there will be a 'huge clearout'
Jos Buttler insists there will be no ‘huge clearout’ after England’s disastrous Cricket World Cup defence – as David Willey takes his 100th ODI wicket in his final ever international
- England ended their tournament with a win against Pakistan in Kolkata
- David Willey will not be part of the future ODI squad following his retirement
- Willey said: ‘My time is done because I’ve called time on it but it is with regret’
England captain Jos Buttler was adamant that there will not be a ‘huge clearout’ with the England ODI side, after they finished their disastrous World Cup campaign with a win against Pakistan in Kolkata to secure qualification for the Champions Trophy.
‘It’s not going to be a drastic change of playing style like 2015,’ said Buttler. ‘We know where we need to go. That doesn’t mean a huge clearout. It’s just pushing on from here,’ he added.
Heavy changes are expected when England announce their white-ball squads on Sunday for their tour to West Indies next month but head coach Matthew Mott stressed that those changes were always going to happen, regardless of how the World Cup went, with the selectors seeing it as an opportunity to give younger and inexperienced players a chance.
‘That was going to be the way – win, lose or draw. It’s an opportunity to look slightly differently with a lot of cricket coming up for the red ball players too, said Mott.
One player certain not to 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.’
Jos Buttler insisted that England’s poor campaign does not necessarily mean there will be a ‘huge clearout’
David Willey, pictured left alongside Buttler, will retire after this World Cup campaign
‘My time is done because I’ve called time on it but it is with deep regret. I think anybody 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,’ said Willey. ‘I’m 33, as fit as I’ve ever been. So, one of the reasons that I wasn’t offered a contract was them going in a different direction after the World Cup, I don’t know why,’ he added.
And Willey admitted that the prospect of retirement had played on his mind from even before England headed out to India for the World Cup.
‘If I’m being brutally honest, I wasn’t sure whether I was going to come to the World Cup even to the 11th hour when we joined up together at Lords. I still wasn’t sure whether I’d make the trip or not. From then on it was something that was on my mind, said Willey.
‘It’s not just that I haven’t been offered a contract. It’s how I feel valued as an England player when I look down the list of other guys that have got contracts. I’d spoken with my family, I’d spoken with Jos (Buttler), Motty (Mot) and then came to the decision that the time was right for me to call it a day and to make sure that I did enjoy my last few games of cricket 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 games at an average of 23.54. Only Adil Rashid took more wickets than him for Buttler’s side and Willey revealed that the situation with himself as the only member of England’s 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 have done it over the last few games,’ said Willey.
People might have frowned upon the timing there, but for me personally there’s not many opportunities to walk away from cricket on your terms. I wanted to enjoy my last three games and not be looking over my shoulder thinking that one bad performance and I’d be out the side.’
Stokes has also hinted that he might re-retire from the one-day format. ‘The reason I stepped away was through workload,’ he said. ‘I’m Test captain and there’s a lot I want to do with that team. It’s something I’ll have to think about quite hard.’
Matthew Mott’s side signed off with a win but endured a dreadful defence of their Cricket World Cup title
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