England name Lions squad for Windies 'A' tour
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have named the England Lions squad that will take on West Indies 'A' starting next February. While most of the usual suspects made the cut, there were a few surprising inclusions as well.
Keaton Jennings will captain the side in the four-day and List A games. He is joined in the squad by Haseeb Hameed, Sam Curran, Ben Foakes, Mason Crane and Toby Roland-Jones for the four-day games, amongst others.
A few of the players including Hameed, Foakes and Crane will feature only in the four-day games, with Sam Northeast, George Garton and Liam Dawson amongst others set to replace them for the shorter format.
Two relative newbies Josh Tongue and Tom Helm of Worcestershire and Middlesex respectively, who are with the current Lions squad for a training camp in Australia, have also been included in the squad despite concerns over their fitness.
National selector James Whitaker said about the selection of the team, “We have selected a total of 22 players for these two series in the West Indies, to ensure we gain the most value in terms of assessing players in both first-class and one-day cricket. Haseeb Hameed, Jamie Porter and Toby Roland-Jones are all available again after injuries - Jamie and Toby after working exceptionally hard on the ECB’s Pace Programme over the last couple of months.
Full Lions squad for four-day and List A games: Keaton Jennings (Lancashire, capt), Joe Clarke (Worcestershire), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Sam Curran (Surrey), Jamie Porter (Essex), Paul Coughlin (Nottinghamshire), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Nick Gubbins (Middlesex), Alex Davies (Lancashire, wicket-keeper), Haseeb Hameed (Lancashire), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Ben Foakes (Surrey, wicket-keeper), Toby Roland-Jones (Middlesex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Josh Tongue (Worcestershire), Sam Northeast (Kent), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Dominic Bess (Somerset), Tom Helm (Middlesex), George Garton (Sussex), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire)
The first game of the tour will begin on February 5 at Sabina Park with the final game scheduled for March 11.