My Sporting Life is The i Paper’s look behind the curtain at what drives sports stars to greatness. Former England cricketer Liam Plunkett reflects on life post-World Cup 2019 and the unusual way he discovered he’d been dropped.
I might be making a comeback
I’m 41 now and I didn’t play professionally this year, but I’m thinking about another crack at playing Major League Cricket next summer. I’d like that to look forward to that – I’ll change my training so that it’s more cricket specific.
I’ve always kept myself fit and now I’m really into my Hyrox
There was a Hyrox in New York and I went to watch, as a few of the rugby boys were doing it. A ticket was going for the week after, so I just thought, f*** it, I’ll have a piece of that. I went to the track the day after to make sure I could run a kilometre, ended up running eight, then just banged it out. I hadn’t done running-specific training for about a year and a half.
I like challenging myself against other people, but mostly against myself. When I played my best cricket, I didn’t think about anyone else. When you’re younger you think you want to be better than whoever you’re up against. But at the back end, when I was one of the best in the world in the middle overs, it was about how I could improve. Others could do what they wanted – I just concentrated on me.
I’m not sure anyone in the US would have understood a word I said when I first started at Durham
I’m from Middlesbrough and came through Cleveland, a really small county set-up, up to under-15s and then signed for Durham. At that point I could barely find my way to my local fish and chip shop, let alone travel the world. If someone had told me I would end up playing for a team called the San Francisco Unicorns, I would have told them they were mad.
The education I received at Durham was the best I could have received
I loved it. Geoff Cook was a Middlesbrough boy himself – he was old school but logical. His motto was to know the game, work hard and be as fit as you can. Geoff was tough, but in a good way, because he challenged you. My group included the likes of [Phil] Mustard and [Graham] Onions, plus [Steve] Harmison and [Paul] Collingwood, who were in the first team. [Mark] Wood and [Ben] Stokes were a few years below me. That group was successful, and it was one of the best times of my life. I wouldn’t have wanted to play anywhere else.
I couldn’t have dreamt of playing in a World Cup final
I wasn’t really part of England’s ODI plans at all after the 2015 World Cup. Then I started bowling quick in Test matches and got picked up for the white ball stuff. [Eoin] Morgan had a plan – we were going to be aggressive in the field, trying to run people out. If you go for boundaries because you’re trying to take wickets, that’s fine. If you practise the reverse sweep and the switch hit and get out doing it, that’s fine too. The team reinvented white-ball cricket really.
They were my favourite times as an England cricketer
We’d bowl first and potentially go for 280 or 300, then I’d have a shower, put on the flip-flops and watch the ball going round the park. It was one of the best feelings. That team was special.
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I wanted to take a diving catch in the Super Over to win the World Cup
Even when I was batting towards the back end of the innings, I thought there was every chance I’d hit three sixes and win it for us. There are mountain-sized nerves in the dressing room, and in the stadium but as a player you want to take the responsibility – you want to be the one taking the catch, smashing the maximum or bowling the yorker and taking the wicket that wins it. Jason [Roy] had misfielded earlier but thankfully picked it up and fired it in.
What happened to me after was handled badly
There was no communication, and then I found out on Twitter that I hadn’t been picked for the next squad. A simple conversation to say “we’re going down this route” would have been enough. I can see why they did it, but I don’t think it was executed well. It’s not how you should deal with people.