Liam Plunkett happy for England’s batsmen to take the credit as long as the bowlers are doing their job

• Plunkett is preparing to play in his second ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup – 12 years after playing in his first
• England’s bowlers have nicknamed themselves ‘the ants’ because they get on with their jobs

Liam Plunkett will be satisfied if England’s bowlers can live up to their self-titled nickname of ‘the ants’ by putting in the hard yards to make life as boring for opposition batsmen as possible.

The 34-year-old seamer has waited 12 years to play in his second ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup after making his bow for his country in the 2007 tournament in the West Indies.

He missed out on the 2011 and 2015 editions of the World Cup but has since been an integral part of Eoin Morgan’s side during their rise to the summit of the rankings.

And despite being the oldest member of the squad, Plunkett admits he still feels the nerves as he prepares to form part of the bowling unit tasked with frustrating opposition batsmen.

“I still get nervous and traditionally I always tend to change my socks and I nip off to the toilet before I bowl, but it’s only be because I want to do well,” he said.

“If I stopped doing that I wouldn’t play. If I didn’t get nervous I just wouldn’t play and while I find it harder to bowl as quick as I used to consistently, I feel that’s something that helps me.

“I can try and bowl the same speed and sometimes it comes out late 80s, sometimes it comes out at 81mph and I feel I have to use that as my variation.

“If I don’t know what speed it’s going to come out, then the batters won’t know either. We call our bowlers ‘the ants’ as they get on with the job, go home and the batsmen get the glory.

“We’ll take that and I just try to go about my business and do the hard yards in the middle, obviously try and make it as boring and difficult as possible for the batters.

“It’s getting harder now especially with our team as we can score at eight, nines an over and you know the batters are going to come after you, and maybe that’s helped with my wickets.”

Plunkett was speaking after sitting out England’s nine-wicket victory against Afghanistan at The Oval in the hosts’ final warm-up game ahead of their World Cup opener against South Africa.

The competition for places between the England bowlers was one of the main talking points before the final selection of the 15-man squad was confirmed ahead of the tournament.

But while the fight for a spot in the starting XI now begins in earnest, Plunkett is confident that there will be opportunities for all of the players to show their worth in the coming weeks.

“We’re at a stage now where it’s a long competition, I feel like everyone will get a chance to play,” he said. “Obviously, with how high pressure it is, people will get the odd twinge or nick.

“Everyone just needs to be ready for that and if you’re not in the starting 11, I’m sure the guys that are not will back the boys no matter what.

“I think we did that when even when people were thinking about the World Cup squad in the Pakistan series, the guys who didn’t play were cheering each other on.

“When I was down fielding at fine leg one of the other bowlers would come and say, ‘What do you think about this?’, which is something that’s hard to do in a team.

“Even more so when the squad selection is coming up, do you want to give that guys some extra credit? So the guys have been really good and we all get on well with each other.

“This team, the support we have as a unit, is the best I’ve ever played in. Morgs has started that off, but I’ve seen quite a lot and it’s good to be involved in this now in such a strong squad.”