England's Liam Plunkett In Talks To Play For USA Cricket Team - Reports
Published - 04 Feb 2020, 06:01 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:03 AM
English fast bowler Liam Plunkett, who played an integral role in England’s 2019 World Cup win. Now, reports suggested that he may switch to USA cricket team. Despite taking three wickets for 42 runs in ten overs in the final at Lord’s against New Zealand, the English selectors overlooked the speedster for the ongoing ODI series against South Africa.
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As per a report from English newspaper Daily Mail, the 34-year-old is concentrating on making a comeback for the Three Lions for now. Still, conversations have surfaced with US Cricket Chief Executive Iain Higgins for the possibility of switching sides.
According to the ICC rules, a player is eligible to play for another country if he has not played for his former side for three years.
Hence, as per the regulations, Plunkett would be available to play for the United States of America (USA) from July 14 2022, provided he doesn’t don the English colours during that time-frame.
The Yorkshire-born pace bowler is reportedly married to a US national and “he would also have to fulfil the nationality qualification criteria by gaining citizenship, a process that takes three years for spouses of US nationals” as also stated in the report.
A harsh call by the selectors to dump Liam Plunkett?
It could indeed have been a harsh call to dump the veteran fast bowler from the squad by the selectors.
Plunkett’s frequent strikes in the middle-overs played a chief part against top sides like India and Australia in do or die games in the 2019 World Cup. The prominent bowler has featured in 13 Tests, 89 ODIs, and 22 T20Is for the English team, snapping 41, 135, and 25 scalps respectively in three formats.
Meanwhile, the USA cricket team are the table-toppers in World Cricket League Two and are ranked 15th in the ICC ODI rankings.
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