Northeast named in England Lions squad

Kent captain Sam Northeast has been named in the England Lions squad to face West Indies A in March 2018.

The 28-year-old will be involved in the three-match 50-over series in Antigua following the conclusion of the 2018 FGS Plant Tour on the same island.

All three matches will be played at the Coolidge Cricket Ground, where Kent played four times on the 2017 FGS Plant Tour.

The right-hander has played for England Under-19s but this is his first selection for a Lions squad after scoring almost 6,000 runs across all formats in the past three seasons.

James Whitaker, the National Selector, said: “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.

“We have included two members of the Ashes tour squad, Ben Foakes and Mason Crane, for the four-day matches, with the possibility of either or both of them leaving the Lions tour early if they are selected in the England squad for the two Tests in New Zealand in March and April.

“We will be naming that squad in the New Year, and the same goes for the squads for the North-South Series which will be played in Barbados at the end of the Lions tour – and is likely to include the players who have been selected for the one-day series against West Indies A.”

Lions squad for whole tour: 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, wk).

Red-ball only: Haseeb Hameed (Lancashire), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Ben Foakes (Surrey, wk), Toby Roland-Jones (Middlesex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Josh Tongue (Worcestershire).

White-ball only: Sam Northeast (Kent), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Dom Bess (Somerset), Tom Helm (Middlesex), George Garton (Sussex), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire).

Itinerary:
February 5-7: Tour Match – Sabina Park, Jamaica
February 11-14 – v West Indies A – Trelawny Multiplex, Jamaica
February 18-21 – v West Indies A – Sabina Park, Jamaica
February 26 – March 1 – v West Indies A – Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua
March 4: Tour Match – Vivian Richards Cricket Ground, Antigua
March 6 – v West Indies A – Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua
March 9 – v West Indies A – Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua
March 11 – v West Indies A – Coolidge Cricket Ground, Antigua
(North-South Series follows in Barbados from March 18-23 – squads to be announced next month)