Plunkett aims to prove himself at Yorkshire

By Graham Hardcastle

Liam Plunkett still has hopes of pulling on an England shirt again - but knows he has a lot of hard work to do in a Yorkshire shirt beforehand.

The 27-year-old fast bowler left Durham in September to take up a three-year contract at Headingley in a bid to get his career back on track following a difficult couple of summers, which has seen him play only three LV= County Championship matches.

He made the last of his 39 appearances for England - including nine Test matches - in a one-day international against Australia in Perth in January, 2011, taking two wickets. But injury and loss of form since then has forced him to look in a different direction.

"I've had a couple of injuries since I last played for England against Australia, but I just want to get back to where I know I can be and do well for the team and myself," said Plunkett, who has relocated to Leeds and is living with fellow new White Rose signing Jack Brooks.

"In eighteen months a lot of people have progressed and got picked in front of me. I need to prove myself again. I need to prove myself to play for Yorkshire as well any higher level than that. For me it's all about concentrating on county cricket. I know it's a cliche, but it's true. Hopefully I can do that.

"I had a year left at Durham, but I just felt a little bit stale up there. I just felt like I wanted to move to help my career, to push myself forward. I know Yorkshire are going in the right direction, I like the way things are being run, the squad looks strong, so I decided it was going to be the best option.”

Yorkshire may be Division One newcomers, yet that will not stop them aiming for Championship success in 2013, something which they came so close to in 2010.

And Plunkett added: "There's a lot of strong teams out there, but we're definitely one of them. If you don't think you're going to win the Championship then there's no point competing. We want to win in all forms of cricket.”


Date: 13/12/2012 23:28:52 by Graham Hardcastle
In: Yorkshire | Today | England |