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Malan to lead youthful Lions at Cheltenham

18 July 2016

Dawid Malan (pictured) will lead a youthful England Lions at The Brewin Dolphin Cheltenham Cricket Festival after the selectors announced a 13 man squad.

The Lions will take on Pakistan A at the College Ground on July 19 a day after Sri Lanka A and Pakistan A get the 50-over Tri-Series underway at the same venue.

No Gloucestershire players were named in the squad which has an average age of 22 and includes three members of England’s squad for the Under-19 World Cup earlier this year – Lancashire’s Saqib Mahmood, Sussex’s George Garton and the Surrey allrounder Sam Curran, who will join his older brother Tom in the squad for the last two matches of the series in Canterbury.

At 28, Middlesex batsman Malan is the oldest player named and is rewarded for his prolific form against Pakistan A last winter.

Liam Dawson and Sam Billings are the only two members of the Lions squad to have played senior international cricket. Northamptonshire’s Ben Duckett, Worcestershire’s Brett D’Oliveira and Lancashire’s Liam Livingstone are rewarded for their impressive county form this season with first Lions call-ups.   Kent’s Daniel Bell-Drummond, Worcestershire’s Joe Clarke and Somerset’s Jamie Overton  - who represented the Lions during the winter – complete the line-up.

National Selector James Whitaker  said:“The Lions play a key role in our development of international cricketers, and we believe this is an exciting squad.

“There is a balance of players who have represented the Lions before, with a few new faces for the future who we feel will benefit from the experience of and exposure to Lions cricket.”

Andy Flower, who will again be the head coach, said: “We’ve had quite a large transition from last winter’s Lions squad to the national side, and that means we will have a much younger group. That is going to make this a challenging series against some experienced cricketers from Sri Lanka and Pakistan, but it will provide a great opportunity for our young players to test themselves.”

England Lions squad for Tri-Series, July 18-25

Dawid Malan (Middlesex, captain)

Daniel Bell-Drummond (Kent)

Ben Duckett (Northants)

Joe Clarke (Worcestershire)

Brett D’Oliveira (Worcestershire)

Sam Billings (Kent, wk)

Liam Livingstone (Lancashire)

Liam Dawson (Hampshire)

Tom Curran (Surrey)

Jamie Overton (Somerset)

Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire)

George Garton (Sussex)

Sam Curran (Surrey) * to join squad on July 21 for last two matches only

Tri-Series Fixtures

Monday July 18 – Pakistan A v Sri Lanka A (Cheltenham)

Tuesday July 19 – England Lions v Pakistan A (Cheltenham)

Thursday July 21 – England Lions v Sri Lanka A (Northampton)

Friday July 22 – Pakistan A v Sri Lanka A (Northampton)

Sunday July 24 – England Lions v Pakistan A (Spitfire Ground, Canterbury)

Monday July 25 – England Lions v Sri Lanka A (Spitfire Ground, Canterbury)

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