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Olly Stone, England quick and the newest member of the team’s expanding list of possible World Cup squad members, said he would “love to” play in the biggest one-day tournament going, and he perhaps has an outside chance, given his performance on Saturday. Stone may have not been picked for this tour, had Liam Plunkett – who got married this weekend – been available. But he is trying to force himself into the reckoning nevertheless.
“I’d love to be part of the World Cup squad,” Stone said. “I’ve come into this tour not really knowing what to expect and the boys have been great, and there is an opportunity to try to put your foot in the door and hopefully from these few games I can put in a good performance and show what I can do.”
Stone took 1 for 23 in six overs in England’s 31-run Duckworth-Lewis-Stern win in Dambulla, bowling for the first time in an international match. While Chris Woakes, who took 3 for 26, is something of a known entity when it comes to his prowess with the new white ball, Stone’s pace was particularly impressive in the second ODI, as he unsettled several Sri Lanka batsmen.
His back-of-a-length and short balls were especially effective. A throat-high bouncer at Niroshan Dickwella yielded Stone’s first international dismissal, with the batsman gloving the ball to the wicketkeeper.
“It is always a nice feeling to see batsmen ducking and diving,” Stone said. “It is just nice to come in and show them what I can do, I guess. There were a few nerves – all the noise was surreal. I was just trying to take it all in with a deep breath and then away I went.”
Stone was able to consistently breach the 140kph mark during his first spell in top-level cricket, but even he is not necessarily expecting to maintain that pace through a whole series. There is more to his bowling than raw pace, he insisted. Captain Eoin Morgan, who spoke of Stone having qualities that even Plunkett lacked, seemed to agree.
“It’s tough given the conditions, trying to figure out how your body will handle it, and not wanting to go all guns blazing at the start and blow out,” Stone said. “I’ve tried this year to go a little bit up and down the gears to try and look after my body – I have had a few injuries. Just trying to figure out when to go all guns blazing and when to hold back a little bit. That has been something I’ve worked on.”
Andrew Fidel Fernando is ESPNcricinfo’s Sri Lanka correspondent. @afidelf
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