Fit-again Willey's back to bolster Yorkshire's T20 batting line-up

The England star has recovered from an abdominal injury that has kept him out of first team action for the past month.

Willey played two T20 games for the Yorkshire second XI on Tuesday against Durham at Brandon.

He smashed 108 in the second match from 45 balls, striking nine fours and seven sixes.

Willey bowled four overs in the first game, returning 2-31, but he did not bowl in the second fixture.

He will play tonight purely as a batsman.

“It’s good to have David available again,” said first team coach Jason Gillespie. “He is a quality performer with plenty of experience.

“We are bringing him back, at this point in time, as a batsman only.

“We are going to continue to monitor his fitness and bring him back to bowling at the right time.”

Yorkshire will be looking to bounce back after losing their opening T20 game against Leicestershire.

Yorkshire lost by 54 runs after a below-par performance with bat and ball. “We were poor against Leicestershire and we can’t hide behind that,” said Gillespie.

“We need to be better.”

Yorkshire (from): Ballance, Bresnan, Carver, Coad, Hodd, Leaning, Lees (captain), Lyth, Patterson, Plunkett, Rashid, Rhodes, Wainman, Willey.