England all-rounder David Willey has been named as Yorkshire captain for the next edition of the Vitality T20 Blast on Monday (February 10).
Yorkshire Cricket Club has announced the latest development on Monday after Steven Patterson decided to stay away from T20 cricket, though he will stay as skipper for the County Championship and 50-over campaigns this summer.
However, the Northampton-born 29-year-old was officially appointed Yorkshire’s new captain at the end of last week following a formal close-season process. Willey, who joined Yorkshire from Northamptonshire in 2016 and signed a three-year deal with the club last summer, has represented England in 74 international games in the limited-overs cricket so far.
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Willey told Yorkshireccc.com: “It's a great honor. To be a captain at any club, let alone the biggest in the country is a great honor. Hopefully, this is the first step and we can have a successful year in 2020. I put my name forward in my appraisal last year.”
He continued, “Over the past four or five years I’ve been in and out with Yorkshire due to England commitments, but having been left out of the World Cup my pathway for this summer has become very clear, which is really exciting. I’m very much looking forward to getting my teeth back into County Cricket and all formats. Part of that will be drawing on my experience in T20 cricket and wanting to lead the team as well as I possibly can.
The reason I came in four or five years ago now was to try and improve that area at Yorkshire. We’ve got a phenomenal record in red-ball cricket, but for a club of this size, to not have silverware in white-ball cricket is very disappointing.”
Willey signed off by saying, “I’ve played T20 cricket all around the world, a World Cup, IPL, Big Bash, I’ve been in Finals Day four times myself, so hopefully, I can draw on all of that experience and bring that to the table. We’ve got a brilliant group of players and my job will be to sit in the background and let the lads go about their business and we hope to go a long way.”
(With Yorkshireccc.com Inputs)
