Caribbean cricket is synonymous with ‘chin music’, the art of short-pitched fast bowling, which paceman Liam Plunkett wants to sample when England play West Indies in three Tests.
Plunkett is pushing for a place, having established himself in the Test team last summer only to suffer an ankle problem that ruled him out of the last three games with India.
The injury ended Plunkett’s season in mid-July, denying him a part in England’s 3-1 defeat of India and Yorkshire clinching the LV= County Championship.
He stepped up his recovery on the England Performance Programme fast bowlers camp in South Africa late last year before returning to playing action on England Lions’ tour of the same country at the start of this year.
Impressive displays for the Lions, notably taking 4-91 from 26 first-innings overs in searing heat at Paarl, led to his inclusion in the Test squad for the Windies tour.
Although the Caribbean pitches lack the pace of old, as England’s last Test series there showed, Plunkett wants to make life uncomfortable for opposing batsmen.
“I might come in and try and rough them up a little bit,” he said.
“That’s why I train hard. I feel like that’s why I stand out from the rest. That’s my job, I feel that’s why I’m in the team because I do bowl fast.
“I'm not a bowler who runs up and just hits line and length all day, I want to do something, I want to ruffle batters up and if that's what I'm asked to do, I'm more than happy to do that.”
Plunkett, who turns 30 tomorrow, has competition for a Test spot, with Chris Jordan and the uncapped Mark Wood seemingly fighting for a place alongside James Anderson and Stuart Broad in the pace attack.
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Plunkett is hoping to impress in the two warm-up matches versus St Kitts and Nevis at Warner Park Basseterre, the first of which starts tomorrow.
“You don't want to just get in easily. You want to fight for it and feel like you've earned your place. You want to outbowl the other guys, and that’s what you’re trying to do,” he explained.
“It's a good unit, it’s a good bunch of guys and they're working hard, but you want to be the best bowler and come through that.”
Plunkett, who has taken 41 wickets in his 13 Tests that are spread over nine years in a stop-start career, added: “There's massive competition, you see the guys now, Woody, CJ bowling, but it’s up to me to come out and bowl well in practice and in the warm-up game and give myself the best chance to play in the first Test.”