Luke Wright determined to tie down a spot in England team after the axing of Kevin Pietersen
Wright confirms his desire to become a mainstay in the one-day side 'at least' with eyes on next year's World Cup
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Your support makes all the difference.Luke Wright has a pressing motivation to put himself in pole position for England's new era.
In the aftermath of this winter's Ashes misery, Wright is one of several who have an obvious chance to demonstrate they can prosper in Kevin Pietersen's absence.
He fluffed in his lines in three Twenty20s in Australia, as England completed a miserable set of series defeats down under in all formats.
But since then, a new management regime has dispensed permanently with record runscorer Pietersen.
The onus is therefore on others to press their claims, starting in three one-day internationals in Antigua and then three Twenty20s in Barbados against West Indies before Stuart Broad's team travel on to the short-format 'World Cup' in Bangladesh.
As batting all-rounder Wright approaches his 29th birthday, he is anxious to extend his limited-overs repertoire again in time for next winter's World Cup - and knows he has a prime opportunity to impress coach Ashley Giles here.
Only two of Wright's 48 ODI caps have come in almost three years since the 2011 World Cup in India.
But he said: "I certainly want to get into the one-day side.
"I'm desperate to push for that, with a World Cup coming up next year for the 50-over format - and I want to be in that.
"I've just got to score big runs, get the nod first... then that's all I can do.
"It doesn't mean you're guaranteed to get a place.
"It's going to be tough to break in, but you're only going to do that from performing well here in front of 'Gilo'. I hope I can do that."
Wright had mixed feelings at being part of the wipe-out for England players in this month's Indian Premier League auction.
"I was obviously disappointed," he said.
"(But) it's sort of a 'win-win' really. I knew if I didn't get picked up, I'd go back to Sussex - and I love it there as well. So I couldn't really miss out.
"You naturally want to be involved in big tournaments. But there are a lot of big players going into that auction, and there were better players than me who missed out as well."
The overlap between IPL and the start of the English season is a snag the Indian franchises appear increasingly unwilling to overlook.
"I think it makes it hard," Wright added.
"Obviously, we have to pay big compensation to our clubs so naturally we have to go in at higher base prices - which I know puts quite a lot of people off.
"So you are up against it.
"There are guys who are playing a lot of Twenty20 cricket for Australia going in at 50,000 US dollars - and obviously you can't compete with that.
"It's always going to be difficult, and I knew going into the auction there was every chance I wouldn't get picked up."
PA
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