Dom Sibley withdraws from Australia-bound England Lions squad
England opener Dom Sibley has withdrawn from the England Lions squad that is due to travel to Australia later this year to work on his game. Yorkshire’s Harry Brook, who has had a dream run in the domestic circuit this year, has been named Sibley's replacement.
Sibley was recently left out of the England squad owing to a string of low scores. However, he got a lifeline from the selectors after being added to the England Lions squad to work his way back into the Test squad.
Opener Dom Sibley has withdrawn from the England Lions squad for the tour of Australia this winter.
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But Dom Sibley has instead decided to stay back with his County side and make some technical adjustments in a bid to add to his tally of 22 Test caps.
The Lions will be the opposition for Joe Root & Co in two warm-up games leading up to the blockbuster five-match Ashes Test series, starting December 8. The England contingent is scheduled to leave for Australia on November 4.
England Lions squad: Tom Abell (Somerset), Josh Bohannon (Lancashire), James Bracey (Gloucestershire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Alex Lees (Durham), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Liam Norwell (Warwickshire), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Rob Yates (Warwickshire), Harry Brooks (Yorkshire)
“Dom needs some time away to regain his confidence after a challenging period" - Chris Silverwood after Dom Sibley was dropped from Test squad
Highest Test scores by non-Root English batsmen against India this year :
87 - Dom Sibley at Chennai
82 - Ben Stokes at Chennai
81 - Ollie Pope at The Oval (today)
70 - Dawid Malan at Leeds
68 - Haseeb Hameed at Leeds
#ENGvIND
After Sibley was left out of the squad following England's win over India at Headingley, Chris Silverwood insisted that the opener needs to go back to his County side to regain confidence. Addressing the press, Silverwood said:
“He will return to Warwickshire to spend time in the middle without the scrutiny and find some rhythm and confidence. Dom offers a lot of value to the Test environment and some time away should help him. However, he remains part of our plans."
Since his return to domestic cricket, Dom Sibley has scored over 40+ runs on six occasions in just nine games as Warwickshire won the illustrious County Championship.