Oval Invincibles bowler Reece Topley admitted that he isn’t afraid to miss games in the Hundred, as he has one eye on the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia.
England are expected to compete for the top prize Down Under, and Topley stated that his priority over the next couple of months is to ensure his fitness for that competition, which starts on Sunday 16 October.
The 28-year-old fast bowler was only a travelling reserve for last year’s World Cup in the UAE, but has been a fixture in England’s white-ball sides this year.
Topley said: “My priority is to be available for the World Cup and I’m doing everything in my power to do that and if that means missing games here and there then so be it.
Topley said: “There’s been a lot of chat recently about the schedule and to be honest, for me to play as much as I have this summer and try to get to October fully fit probably isn’t sustainable.
“I’m having to be a bit smart about where I play and not going for broke at this point in the season.”
However, Topley, who has already missed one match for Oval this year, reiterated his desire to contribute more than he did last year, as injuries affected his tournament and he was restricted to just four wickets.
Topley has already taken five in three matches this campaign, after a brilliant 3-24 aided the Invincibles as they thrashed the Southern Brave by seven wickets.
The victory took Oval to three wins from four, leaving them second in the table ahead of tonight’s clash with Trent Rockets, who have an identical record.
However, Topley was quick to shoot down the suggestion his team had built up momentum, suggesting that their quality was the reason behind their position.
He said: “Momentum is important but it just comes down to execution.
“I think ‘momentum’ a bit of a buzzword that people like to dwell on or can put poor form down to it. I think it’s invented. The reality is we’re playing well and we’re a good team.
“I don’t know if we’re the best team in the competition but we’re definitely not the worst. We’re at the top end that’s for sure. We’ve got plenty of match winners, all the way down the line-up so it’s hard to argue we’re not among the strongest.
“We’ve still not put a complete performance together yet – there’s still a lot to come from this group. We’re in a healthy spot. Hopefully we can keep the winning run going.”
With only eight matches in the tournament, and four teams on three wins vying for three spots at the halfway stage, Topley is aware of the importance of every game.
“It’s a massive game. It could be a match where the winner takes third. It could easily be a team we finish level on points with so net run rate could be huge.
“We’re at the stage in the tournament where group matches can start to become knockouts.”
Invincibles face the Rockets at Trent Bridge and the match starts at 7pm.
Featured image credit: Kyle Andrews via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0 licence
