All-rounder David Willey admits it would be a dream to follow in his father’s footsteps and play for England against Ireland next week.
Willey is in line to make his international debut in Malahide after he was this week selected in the initial 11-man squad for the one-off one-day international.
His father Peter played 26 Tests, and as many ODIs, from 1976 to 1986 during which time he most memorably hit two centuries against the feared West Indies attack.
“It’s a special occasion for me,” Willey told ecb.co.uk.
“To represent your country is always something I’ve always dreamt about doing and for that to potentially be a reality is a dream come true.
“Having my father do so as well there’s nothing more than I’d like than to walk out there with an England shirt on.”
After receiving news of his call-up this week, Willey revealed he got a characteristic response from his father, who also umpired in 25 Tests, when he broke the news to him.
“As those who know him he didn’t give much away,” he said.
“‘Well done son’. That was about it really. I wouldn’t expect anything else.”
Willey has been on England’s radar for a couple of seasons and shot to prominence following his stunning performance in the 2013 Twenty20 Cup final.
He crashed a 19-ball half-century before claiming four wickets, including a hat-trick, to seal Northamptonshire’s first piece of major silverware for 21 years.
Injury struck last season, however, as a back problem prevented him from bowling for most of the summer and, while he was still selected for the Lions, he later underwent shoulder surgery.
That meant a winter of recovery but Willey used the time to work closely on his batting.
The fruits of that labour have been apparent early in the new season as he began the LV= County Championship with a century before blasting a match-changing 88 from 79 balls against Leicestershire at Grace Road this week.
“I’m fairly pleased, particularly with how I’m batting at the minute,” he said.
“I’m seeing the ball nicely. I worked very hard on it over the winter with being out with a shoulder injury so it is nice to see that hard work paying off.
“Bowling I’m not quite where I’d like to be with the red ball. I’m sure that will come and fortunately we have a good quartet of seamers.”
Willey provides the left-arm option that was so successful during the recent World Cup and with the potential of his destructive batting he will be one of the players who is set to capture attention in Ireland.
Certainly his early-season performances for Northamptonshire have caught the eye as they fought back from a tough start in Leicester to claim their first Championship win since promotion two summers ago.
“We got put in on a pitch that was under-prepared,” he said.
“We didn’t bat as well as we might have liked but we still managed to get up to 250. We then didn’t bowl very well on that first evening but we clawed it back.
“After a deficit of 50 on the first innings we played very well, managed to leave them 300-plus and bowled very well to win the match.”