Joe Clarke will continue his spell in the Caribbean by switching from the England Lions to be part of the North squad to face The South in Barbados.
The Worcestershire batsman was also included in the North squad for the inaugural series 12 months ago in the UAE.
He will link up with County team-mate Brett D’Oliveira who has flown out from England for the three 50 over matches.
Clarke was part of the Lions party for the three four-day ‘Tests’ and three ODI’s against West Indies A who recorded 3-0 and 2-1 series wins respectively.
The 21-year-old scored 221 runs in nine innings across all games during the six week tour.
Now Clarke will be looking to help the North avenge a 3-0 setback against the South last winter.
Andrew Strauss, the ECB’s director of England cricket, said: “We introduced the North-South Series last year as part of a concerted attempt to emphasise the importance of 50-over cricket in the countdown to staging the 2019 ICC World Cup.
“The series was successful in a number of ways, allowing players to press their World Cup claims in front of the England selectors and management – and also re-enforcing the importance of the Royal London One-Day Cup through the link with the PCA’s MVP rankings.
“This year’s series was always going to be a little different given the schedule of the England team which means Trevor Bayliss and Paul Farbrace are both in New Zealand.
“But the appointment of two members of the England coaching staff in Mark Ramprakash and Paul Collingwood to take charge of the teams underlines that the stakes will again be high for the players selected.
“The selectors have also made a deliberate decision to include some younger players who have impressed on our International Pathway, whether recent graduates of the Young Lions, or from the Pace Programme and Overseas Placements – looking beyond the 2019 World Cup towards 2023.”
The first two games of the series will be staged at the Kensington Oval, on March 18 and 21, with the third match switched to the Three Ws Oval on March 23.
Each team will have a warm-up game on March 15 – the South will play a Barbados Cricket Association XI at Kensington Oval, and the North will face familiar opposition at the Three Ws Oval from Northamptonshire, who are also in Barbados preparing for the season.
Both teams have been forced to make a late change to their squad.
Gloucestershire’s seamer Liam Norwell has been ruled out of the South squad by a hamstring injury he suffered training with his county in England. He has been replaced by Ravi Patel, the 26-year-old Middlesex spinner.
The North have called up Matt Critchley, Derbyshire’s 21-year-old leg-spinning all-rounder, to replace Paul Coughlin, the Notts all-rounder who suffered a dislocated shoulder in the last match of the Lions’ one-day series against West Indies A at the weekend.
Squads
North. Coach – Paul Collingwood (Durham). Assistant Coach – Paul Franks (Notts Outlaws – qualified through Royal London One-Day Cup). S Mullaney (Notts, captain), K Jennings (Lancashire), S Hain (Warwickshire), A Hose (Warwickshire), J Clarke (Worcestershire), A Davies (Lancashire, wk), M Critchley (Derbyshire), B D’Oliveira (Worcestershire), M Fisher (Yorkshire), S Mahmood (Lancashire), R Gleeson (Northamptonshire), M Parkinson (Lancashire), Z Chappell (Leicestershire).
South. Coach – Mark Ramprakash (ECB). Assistant Coach – A Flower (ECB). S Northeast (Hampshire, captain), D Bell-Drummond (Kent), N Gubbins (Middlesex), L Evans (Sussex), O Pope (Surrey), J Simpson (Middlesex, wk), S Curran (Surrey), D Rawlins (Sussex), D Bess (Somerset), R Patel (Middlesex), P Walter (Essex), J Porter (Essex), T Barber (Middlesex).
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ENGLAND LIONS TOUR
LEADING BATTING AVERAGES
Hain Matches 4, Inns 4, Not Out 1, Runs 223, Highest 144, Avertage 74.33
S. Curran 4, 3, 0, 145, 119, 48.33
Jennings 8, 11, 1, 293, 129*, 29.30
Davies 7, 10, 0, 286, 78, 28.60
Hameed 4, 8, 0, 198, 48, 24.75
CLARKE 6, 9, 0, 221, 87, 24.55
Foakes 2, 4, 0, 91, 37, 22.75
Gubbins 8, 12, 0, 228, 54, 19.00
Lawrence 1, 2, 0, 37, 35, 18.50
Northeast 5, 6, 1, 81, 34, 16.20
Livingstone 3, 6, 0, 97, 48, 16.16
NORTH V SOUTH SERIES
Game One (Kensington Oval): Sunday March 18
Game Two (Kensington Oval): Wednesday March 21
Game Three (Three Ws Oval): Friday March 23
