I’ll still want to play Test cricket when I’m 38: Liam Plunkett

England pacer Liam Plunkett seems to be getting better by age as his pace and fitness is improving as he is heading towards the age of 32. He said that he would still like to play Test cricket even when he is 38.

“I’ll still want to play Test cricket when I’m 38,” he said.

He is surely one of the fastest bowlers in the country and feels that he can give a lot more value to the side. “I’m bowling fast enough but I feel I’ve got a lot more to give,” he lamented.

The 31-year old said that he is looking after his body better nowadays and thereby he wanted to increase his pace and stay strong. “As I get older I learn to look after my body better,” he says. “I eat better, think smarter, and it’s paid off because I feel better than I’ve ever done. I want to get more powerful and quicker and I think I can do that, though I’ll have to work hard at it. Mitchell Johnson was at his best at 32-33. I feel I’m in the best nick I’ve ever been in, the quickest bowler in the country when it all clicks, and can get better still.”

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He is looking forward to keeping his position in the upcoming ODI series against Pakistan. He was a part of the team in their last ODI series against Sri Lanka, where he contributed both with bat and ball.

“One edge we’ve got is that in county cricket a lot of the lads have been playing white-ball cricket so a lot of the lads are in good form and I think that gives the heads-up on them,” he said.

Plunkett backed England to beat Pakistan in the ODI series and also pointed that Pakistan is as good as any, on their day. Speaking about the series, he said, “It was a great Test series to watch against Pakistan and I’m sure the one-dayers will be the same. Pakistan is a team when they’re on, as good as anyone out there on their day. But they can also crack under pressure. They can be vulnerable and we back ourselves after beating Sri Lanka.”

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He left Durham for Yorkshire at the end of the 2012 season and later on worked with Jason Gillespie. “In an early net session for Yorkshire, I hit the side netting. Dizzy just turned to me and said: ‘I couldn’t give a shit mate, I just want you to bowl fast.’ That was important to me.”

Up against Modern-day batsmen:

Speaking about coping up with the modern day batsmen and modern day batting techniques, he said, “When I first started playing one-day cricket there weren’t too many batsmen playing scoops or sweeping the seamers.”

He feels that gone are those days, where someone performs in the longer format gets an automatic call to the limited-overs side. With lot more specialist players coming in for different formats of the game, one needs to work hard to cement the place in the squad.

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“Now you get more white-ball specialists, some of whom struggle in the red-ball format. We play three different games now and each game has its own specialists. Back in the day if you played Test cricket you were also in the one‑day squad. But now it has become much more specialized.”

“The academy and Lions programs mean more and more players get fed into the system. So there is always plenty of competition,” he concluded.