Haseeb Hameed will captain England Lions on their red-ball tour of Sri Lanka, with former worldwide stars Graeme Swann and Ian Bell as soon as once more named among the many teaching workers.
England’s understudies fly out subsequent week and can play two four-day video games towards Sri Lanka A, earlier than Somerset’s Tom Abell takes over as skipper for a three-match one-day collection.
And, in handing the management reins to Hameed, the England hierarchy seem to have given the Nottinghamshire opener contemporary hope of reigniting a Test profession that stalled after a disappointing Ashes collection final winter.
The journey can be overseen by Neil Killeen, the Durham stalwart who has simply been named because the England and Wales Cricket Board’s elite tempo bowling coach, with Swann and Bell reprising the mentoring roles they fulfilled throughout a November coaching camp within the United Arab Emirates.
Bell, who scored over 13,000 worldwide runs, can be working with the batting unit, whereas Swann is available to help Min Patel with the spin teaching. He will even present broader insights into his method to the sport, which is seen as an excellent match for the attacking philosophy espoused by England captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.
Swann, who took 255 wickets in 60 Tests, has beforehand spoken of his want to work with the subsequent era of England spinners however has needed to wait his flip after being ignored by earlier regimes.
ECB efficiency director Mo Bobat praised Swann as the right man to assist put together prospects like Liam Patterson-White and Jack Carson for the senior facet.
“I originally thought about him a year-and-a-half ago, thinking he’d be a really good mentor on an individual level for a couple of spin bowlers,” stated Bobat.
“When Keysy (director of cricket Rob Key) first started he and I spoke about trying to get the right personalities and characters around our players, people who really embody the type of cricket we’re trying to play. He was someone who certainly came to mind.
“We all saw the way he approached his bowling. He used to take a lot of wickets in his first over, freakishly so. Swanny just thought from ball one, ‘I’m here to attack’. It’s that fantastic mindset we want our players to embody. It’s infectious. He brings great energy as well and you want to have that in the environment.”
Bobat additionally defined why Rehan Ahmed, the 18-year-old leg-spinner who turned England’s youngest ever Test cricketer in Karachi earlier than Christmas and lit up the massive stage with a maiden five-for, was not a part of the squad.
Ahmed isn’t travelling with the Lions regardless of being ignored of the tour to New Zealand. Instead, he has been allowed to additional his white-ball expertise within the UAE’s new ILT20 league, the place he’ll play for Gulf Giants.
Bobat additionally defined {that a} health programme has been put in place to assist his bodily improvement.
We do not suppose he is the completed product and why would he be, as younger as he’s? Giving him the appropriate breadth of expertise is essential
Mo Bobat on Rehan Ahmed
“We wanted him to experience some white-ball stuff because we think that’s important too,” he stated.
“We knew he had some franchise stuff lined up and we want him to experience that challenge because we need to think long-term with him. We don’t think he’s the finished product and why would he be, as young as he is?
“Giving him the right breadth of experience is key.
“We also wanted to give him time to work on his conditioning because, like a lot of cricketers, when you keep backing up matches you end up trying tick over with your fitness as opposed to making progress. At his age he probably did need to make a bit of progress, so we wanted that window of time.”
