Liam Plunkett

About Liam Plunkett

Liam Plunkett is an international cricketer from United States of America, listed as a bowler. Career years: 2005 - 2019. Batting style: right-hand bat. Bowling style: right-arm fast. Date of birth: 1985-4-6. Career highlights — ODI: 646 runs at avg 20.83; T20I: 42 runs at avg 6. Explore complete career numbers, debut matches and match-by-match form below.

Liam Plunkett biography

Fast bowler Liam Plunkett's career of two halves might best be remembered for his contributions in the 2019 ODI World Cup, where he played the role of England's middle-overs enforcer efficiently, taking 11 wickets at 24.72 and an economy of under 5, including three wickets in the cliffhanger final. Plunkett at his best had speed to spare, and the ability to send down the occasional unplayable ball. Subtlety and control were not his strong suits, though, and England designated him a white-ball player soon after his second coming.

His favourite opponents in his 13 Tests were Sri Lanka, against whom he took 21 wickets in four matches across two series eight years apart. Close to half of his 41 Test wickets came in the four games he played after his return to the side in 2014, after seven years away. Towards the tail end of that period in the international wilderness, he lost confidence in his action, but he found his pace and ambition afresh following a move to Yorkshire from Durham

He made his first-class debut for Durham in 2003, and in 2005 took 50 wickets in a season for the first time. His Test debut came against Pakistan in Lahore that year, and he announced himself as a capable allrounder who could strike the ball a fair way from lower down the order, making a composed half-century in his second ODI, against the same opposition.

Though picked for England's Australia tour of 2006-07, Plunkett didn't play in the Tests, which ended in 5-0 rout, but impressed with 12 wickets in the ODI series, which England won. It was a performance that secured his ODI World Cup passage, though he only played three games in that tournament and lacked the incisiveness he had shown in Australia. His only ODI five-for came late in his career, against West Indies in Bristol, during a 4-0 series whitewash in 2017.

In 2007, Plunkett played a role in Durham's first domestic trophy win: he took three wickets in the Friends Provident final his side won. He then spent a winter as Dolphins' overseas player in South Africa in 2007-08, and he shared in Durham's Championship success the following summer. They retained that title in 2009 and Plunkett starred with 49 wickets in the season, including nine in the innings win over Nottinghamshire that sealed the title.

A combination of injuries and problems with his action then saw him slip down the pecking order at Durham, and after two lean seasons he moved to Yorkshire, where he showed signs of a resurgence, taking 35 wickets in 14 Championship matches in 2010. Two 40-plus-wicket seasons came back to back, in 2013 and 2014. Yorkshire won the title in the latter of those years, and in 2015, when Plunkett played a smaller role, taking 14 wickets from his five games.