Porter: I'm Still In The Mix For England This Summer

JAMIE Porter’s brief taste of international cricket has hardened his resolve to break into England’s Test team, with the Essex seamer daring to dream of an unlikely Ashes call in the months ahead.

- Chris Stocks

Porter was called into England’s squad during last summer’s series against India and although he didn’t play, getting so close to a Test debut acts as a huge motivation to make that final step after several seasons of excellence at the county level.

“Massively,” said Porter. “By far that was the best few weeks of my life being involved in that Test squad. It’s a great environment, great people and it’s something I want to be a part of for a long time.

“So the hunger is definitely there but I think I’ve got to be very careful that I don’t get too torn up by it because ultimately my focus right now is winning games of cricket with Essex and if I’m doing that the rest should take care of itself anyway.”

After taking 188 County Championship wickets over the past three summers, Porter has made a slow start to this season for Essex.

However, with the Championship resuming in less than a fortnight, Porter has a chance to pick things up and state his case for an England call-up once again. Although playing in

the Ashes remains unlikely this summer with James Anderson and Stuart Broad leading a strong field of seamers to take on Australia, Porter is allowing himself to dream.

“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t thought about it,” he said.