Saturday 28 June 2014 16:24, UK
Nottinghamshire fast bowler Harry Gurney is desperate to play for England at the 2015 World Cup after impressing in the recent one day series against Sri Lanka.
The 27-year-old was with the England team in Australia for the pre-Ashes series net practice and after being drafted in to face the Sri Lankans this summer, repaid the selectors' faith with an impressive display, including a four-wicket haul in the fourth one-dayer at Lord's.
It is a stunning turnaround for the lively left-armer who had to win back a contract at Leicestershire at the start of the 2009 season after being dumped the previous September.
With next year's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand looming on the horizon, Gurney told Sky Sports: "It would be incredible to play there but there’s a lot of cricket to be played before then.
"There’s the Sri Lanka and India tours and there are no guarantees I’ll be involved. I’ve got my work cut out with the likes of Stuart Broad around but if I continue to bowl as well as I can then who knows. If eventually I was part of that World Cup, it would be amazing."
England have not featured a left-arm pace bowler regularly since former Notts paceman Ryan Sidebottom and Gurney could prove to be a valuable weapon.
On his recent efforts against the Sri Lankan tourists, the Notts Outlaws star added: "It was an amazing experience where I learnt a great deal. Being around that environment and training with that calibre of cricketer and playing against that calibre of cricketer on a daily basis, you can’t help but improve.
"I thought I had a good chance of playing in the T20 at The Oval but if I’m being brutally honest I wasn’t sure how much I’d play in the one-day series. Thankfully the T20 went well and I managed to get into the ODI team and stay in the series. I was very proud and I thoroughly enjoyed it."
After playing a seven-game ODI series in Sri Lanka in November and December, England will play a triangular one-day international series in Australia which also involves India.
They will then focus their thoughts on the 2015 World Cup Down Under with Australia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, New Zealand, Afghanistan and Scotland in their group.
Having faced the might of Sri Lanka, Gurney believes India, the defending one day champions, will prove to be a huge challenge.
On the India team, Gurney said: "Their style of cricket is similar to Sri Lanka. They are good players of spin, good bowlers of spin and have some destructive players down the order.
"There are similarities but you have to do your homework on the individual batters. Hopefully I will be selected and get my chance."
