Reece Topley hits high notes after painful winding road back for England

Amid the carnage and chaos that concluded England’s victory over West Indies in Bridgetown on Sunday, while Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein were showering the stands with sixes, Reece Topley was quietly compiling not only his most economical figures in international T20 cricket, but the second-best figures of his entire career.

After restricting West Indies to eight runs in the 19th over of the match – overs 18 and 20 went for a combined 51 – Topley had completed his allocation for the concession of 18. The only time he has bettered that in any of his 101 T20 outings was when conceding one fewer for Melbourne Renegades in the Big Bash League last month. Approaching the fourth anniversary of his decision, midway through the 2018 season, to give up cricket altogether under the continual assault of injuries, the 27-year-old finds himself in the form of his career.

“I think because I’ve had it slightly different than other people that play international cricket, in terms of the journey that I’ve had, I think my perspective is quite unique,” he says of Sunday’s match. “I just sort of embraced all the emotion after the game, or all the messages, whatever you want to call it. I embraced it all but then I’m very good at parking it, you know? I don’t really get too caught up in it. I’m lucky to be playing and I just really enjoyed it. Almost having a second opportunity just makes me value it all a lot more.”

Topley’s retirement lasted only a matter of months, before his passion for the game was reignited on a trip to Australia the following winter, but a return to international cricket has taken much longer: Sunday’s game was his first T20 since the 2016 World Cup. But there were no signs of nerves as he dismissed Brandon King