Liam Edward Plunkett (born 6 April 1985) is an English cricketer who bowls right-arm fast medium.

In the 2005 season he was Durham's leading first-class wicket-taker, and that year was called up to the England squad to tour Pakistan in November and December where he played his first Tests and One Day Internationals (ODIs).

Under the tutelage of Yorkshire coach and former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie, Plunkett's fortunes improved and he was awarded his county cap in 2013.

As proof of his worth as a tailender, after just 18 ODI games he held a part of both the 8th and 9th wicket partnership records for England.

[2] Plunkett started his career with Durham, making his debut for the senior side in 2003 having played for the club's academy.

He stated, "At this stage of my career, I believe that a fresh challenge would benefit me and I feel this is required to help me reach my goal of representing my country again".

[3] In his first season at Yorkshire, Plunkett played in 12 of the club's 16 matches in the County Championship, managing to take 36 wickets.

[4] He credits Jason Gillespie, Yorkshire's coach and former Australia international fast bowler, with helping him regain his confidence and felt that his problems had been exacerbated by over-coaching.

"[5] Under the tutelage of Yorkshire coach and former Australia fast bowler Jason Gillespie, Plunkett's fortunes improved and he was awarded his county cap in 2013.

In April 2018, Plunkett received his maiden IPL call up, when he was signed by the Delhi Daredevils as a replacement for the injured Kagiso Rabada.

[7] Plunkett was called up for the England One Day International and Test squads to tour Pakistan in November & December 2005 after an injury to Simon Jones.

Injuries to Steve Harmison, Anderson and Jones meant Plunkett started the first Test of the Sri Lankan tour of England in the summer of 2006.

This included a double wicket maiden in his first over of the day, dismissing Michael Vandort and Mahela Jayawardene.

In the final match of the series Plunkett took two wickets in each innings as Sri Lanka won by 134 runs.

Plunkett made his international Twenty20 debut on 15 June 2006 against Sri Lanka, taking 1–37 from four overs; he did not bat.

[9] Plunkett did not feature in another ODI match until 30 January 2007, against New Zealand in Perth, Australia during the Commonwealth Series.

As England progresses to the Super Eights stage of the tournament, Plunkett found it difficult to hold down a place.

His final game of the tournament came against West Indies, but he was expensive, taking 1–71 in just 7 overs as England narrowly won by 1 wicket.

Plunkett was picked based on his good from in the County Championship and played in the first match as an impact bowler, bowling short deliveries in an attempt to unsettle the batsmen.

He also set the record for most consecutive matches missed for a team between appearances(74)[11][12] After not playing in the first two group games, Plunkett came into the side against Afghanistan and took figures of 0–12 in an economical spell.

In the first ODI against Sri Lanka, Plunkett took figures of 2–67 and scored an unbeaten 22, which included a six of the last ball to secure a tie for England.

However, in the final game he again found himself amongst the wickets, taking figures of 3–44 to help England win the series 3–0.

Plunkett played in the only T20I between the two sides, taking figures of 2–27 to help restrict Sri Lanka to 140 as England won the match by eight wickets.

He took figures of 1–30 in the third ODI which England won by 169 runs after setting a new world record high score with the bat.

He was a crucial part for England in the final, taking three wickets, including New Zealand captain Kane Williamson.

[15] Plunkett, who is married to an American woman, later said that he would be open to the idea of playing for the United States cricket team.