Personal Life

In November 2016, he married singer-songwriter Carolynne Willey.

Domestic Career
Northamptonshire

Willey began his career in Division Two of the County Championship for his native Northamptonshire. After coming through the ranks at Northampton for O.N's and Northants Academy, he got his chance in the 2009 season aged 19 after a good pre-season. His first game was against Leicestershire, the first game of the season against one of his father's old clubs. He scored 60 points on the debut after a good partnership with Andrew Hall but didn't continue that in the televised match against Essex in his first one-day game when he exited with a poor shot for a duck. His first wicket came in his second first class against Kent when he had Phil Edwards out of LBW. On May 8, he was rewarded with a two-year pro contract after impressing early in the season. It was in the Twenty20 that he excelled but this time with his bowling taking 3/9 in his first ban against Worcestershire and finishing the 2009 competition with an 11.30 average. He appeared in the 2010 Cricket AM feature Brain vs Brawn alongside Northant's teammate Jack Brooks.

In 2013, he helped Northamptonshire to a 102-run win in a rain-shortened Friends Life Twenty20 final against Surrey, where he made 60 with the racquet, then had numbers of 4/9, including an end-of-game hat-trick to clean up the tail.

Yorkshire

On 19 August 2015 it was announced that Willey would join Yorkshire on a three-year contract at the start of the 2016 season. He made his debut for Yorkshire against Nottinghamshire on 1 May 2016 at Trent Bridge.

Perth Scorchers

Willey was signed by Perth Scorchers for the 2015–16 BBL season. After a successful first season, he was retained for the 2016/17 season. In the first game against the Adelaide Strikers, he performed well with the ball and took 2 wickets but only scored 2 runs from five balls with the racquet. In the Scorchers' second game against the Sydney Sixers, he scored a run and didn't take a wicket, in a heavy loss. In the third game against Melbourne, he bowled well and took two wickets with the ball before Ashton Agar scored a six to win in the final. He was signed again by the Scorchers for the 2017–18 season as the club's only overseas player.

Northern Superchargers

Willey was signed by Northern Superchargers for the inaugural edition of The Hundred tournament. He was the team's captain for the first edition of the tournament as planned captain Faf du Plessis was ruled out. When du Plessis returned in 2022, Willey was replaced by him as captain.

Indian Premier League

David Willey IPL Chennai Super Kings signed Willey for the 2018 IPL season to replace Kedar Jadhav who was injured in the first game of the tournament and he was also wanted to replace injured New Zealand spinner Mitchell Santner. During his late IPL call up, David Willey played county cricket matches for Yorkshire before agreeing to play for CSK. He also became the 12th England player to be called up for the 2018 IPL season. During the 2018 edition of the IPL, he was also one of three English cricketers to receive late IPL call-ups alongside Liam Plunkett (for DD) and Alex Hales (for SRH).

Chennai Super Kings signed David Willey for the 2019 IPL season. He was released by the Chennai Super Kings ahead of the 2020 IPL auction. David Willey IPL 2022 In February 2022 he was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore at the auction for the 2022 Indian Premier League tournament.

International Career
2015 Ireland

Willey was selected in the England under-19 cricket squad for the Tests against Bangladesh. Despite not playing in the first Test, he scored 65 in the first innings of the second Test. He made his One Day International debut for England on 8 May 2015 against Ireland, taking his first wicket in a rain-affected match.

2015 New Zealand, Australia and Pakistan

Willey was called up to the England ODI team against New Zealand on 14 June 2015, playing in the third game of the series. He took a wicket with his 2nd ball and ended up with numbers 3-69. In the fourth game of the series, he picked numbers from 2-89 as England comfortably won the game. He took 2-50 in the last game of the series as England won the series 3-2. Willey made his Twenty20 International debut on June 23, 2015 in the same series. He picked numbers from 3 to 22 and scored six runs to help England win the match.

Willey played in the only T20 against Australia, which England won by five runs, scoring numbers 2–32. He played against Australia in the last two ODIs and scored numbers 3-51 in the fourth ODI as England won by 3 wickets. In the last ODI, Willey was out for a duck but took 1-13 as England lost the match and series 3-2.

Willey retained his spot on the team against Pakistan for the ODI series. He didn't take a wicket in the first game but returned in the second game with numbers 3–25 to help England win by 95 runs. He took 1-45 in the third game before taking 2-34 in the final game of the series to limit Pakistan to 271 as England won by 84 runs.

2015–16 South Africa

Willey played South Africa in their first three games, winning 1–30 in the first game as England won by DL method by 39 runs. He failed to take a wicket in the second and third matches and did not play in the last two games. England eventually lost the series 3-2. Playing against South Africa in the first T20I, Willey took numbers 0-15 and scored an unbeaten seven with the racquet, despite England losing the match by 3 wickets.

T20 World Championship 2016

Willey played every game in England's 2016 World T20 campaign. He took 1-33 against the West Indies and 1-40 against South Africa. He played a crucial role in the victory over Afghanistan, leading England to 141 with 20 unbeaten points before winning 2–23 with the ball. In the same game, he joined Moeen Ali in setting the record for the highest partnership for the 8th wicket in T20 World Championship history, 57 runs. Willey continued to impress against Sri Lanka, scoring numbers from 2 to 26. After the game, Willey was found guilty and fined 15% of his game fee for using obscene language and giving Sri Lankan batsman Milinda Siriwardana a farewell by he pointed to the pavilion. In the semi-final against New Zealand he took numbers from 1 to 17 as England reached the final. While Willey rolled well and scored figures from 3-20, England fell just behind and lost the game to finish runners-up. He was named by the ICC to the "Team of the Tournament" for the 2016 T20 World Championship.

2016 Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh

Willey took 2-56 in the first ODI against Sri Lanka which ended in a draw. He took 1-65 in the second game as England won by 10 wickets and took another wicket in the third ODI which was abandoned due to rain. In game four of the series he took numbers from 2 to 58 to limit Sri Lanka to 305 and England secured a six-wicket win. In the final match of the series, he took 4-34 to help England win the match by 122 runs and the series 3-0.

Willey played against Pakistan in the fourth ODI, despite not reserving a wicket and finishing 0–40, despite England winning the match. England lost the last match of the series and Willey failed to take a wicket. England won the series 4-1. Playing in the only T20 between the two sides, Willey made 12 with the racquet and took numbers from 0 to 16 as England lost by nine wickets.

Willey didn't take a wicket in the first ODI against Bangladesh, which England won by 21 runs. In the second game, he finished on numbers 0–36 as England lost by 34 runs. He did not play in the last game of the series, which England won.

2017 India, West Indies

In the first ODI, Willey went ten unbeaten runs before taking numbers from 2-47 as England lost by three wickets. He took 0-32 in the second ODI as India won by 15 runs. In the last ODI he took numbers 1-8 but was injured despite England winning by five runs.

In September, Willey started the first game of the ODI series against West Indies by a number 1–39 as England won the game by seven wickets. He was selected for the next game but was unable to play as the game was abandoned due to rain after only two balls had been played. Willey took a number from 1 to 34 as England defeated the West Indies again in the third game. He didn't play the last two games of the series but England managed to win those games and the series 4-0.

2018 Tri Series, Australia

In the second T20 match of the Tri Series, Willey only scored three runs but then he took a number of 3-28 which wasn't enough for England as they lost to Australia. Willey scored ten runs and reached a 1–30 score as England were again defeated by Australia in the third game. He scored twenty-one runs and didn't take a wicket in the next game as England suffered their third straight loss to New Zealand. He scored ten runs and failed to win a wicket, but this time England managed to defeat New Zealand in their last game of the series.

Willey took a number of 1–41 and went unbeaten thirty-five runs as England beat Australia in the first game of the ODI series. In the next game he scored 11 runs and didn't take a wicket as England managed to defeat Australia again. Willey took a 2-56 score as England won the third game by a record-breaking 481 to 6 against Australia, which is also the highest score in the history of ODI cricket and also the most crushing defeat in terms of runs ever experienced by Australia was added . Willey took four wickets and conceded forty-three runs as his side beat Australia again in game four. He did not play the last match of the series, although England won the match and the series 5–0.

Willey took a 1-31 figure as England won the only T20 against Australia.

Cricket World Cup 2019 and Beyond

In April 2019 he was called up to England's provisional squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. On 21 May 2019, England finalized their World Cup squad with Willey not being named in the final 15-man team.

On 29 May 2020, Willey was called up to a 55-strong squad of players to begin training ahead of international matches beginning in England following the COVID-19 pandemic. On 9 July 2020, Willey was added to England's 24-man squad to begin behind closed doors training for the ODI series against Ireland. On 27 July 2020, Willey was called up to England's squad for the ODI series. On 30 July 2020, in the opening game against Ireland, Willey scored his first draw with five wickets in an ODI match at numbers 5/30 from 8.4 overs.

On June 29, 2021, David Willey Cricketer played in the opening game against Sri Lanka in his 50th ODI game. In September 2021, Willey was called up to England's squad for the 2021 Men's ICC T20 World Cup.