Wednesday, December 23rd, 2015

Whiteley And Clarke Named In Lions 50 Over Squad For Pakistan ‘a’ Series

Whiteley And Clarke Named In Lions 50 Over Squad For Pakistan ‘a’ Series

Ross Whiteley and Joe Clarke have both been named in the England Lions squad for their second series of matches this winter early in the New Year.

The Worcestershire duo have been selected for the five 50 over clashes with Pakistan 'A' in the UAE and will fly out in early January and return at the end of the month.

Whiteley and Clarke were also both part of the Lions squad which defeated Pakistan 'A' 3-2 in a thrilling T20 series earlier this month in Dubai.

Worcestershire Director Of Cricket Steve Rhodes will again be part of the Lions coaching set-up for the 50 over matches.

Whiteley played in all five of the T20 matches and hit five sixes and had top scores of 29 not out off 20 balls and 23 off 15 balls batting mainly in the number six role.

Clarke impressed in the warm-up games and featured in the opening match of the T20 series, scoring 16 off 13 balls.

But he was ruled out of the last four matches with a quad injury suffered during training.

Rhodes said: "Joe was very frustrated. In the training camp, he had impressed everybody, had impressed in the UAE warm-up games and he had a nice little knock in the first game.

"But in sport you have a lot of ups and downs and it wasn't a playing 'down' for him, it was the fact he got himself injured and didn't play.

"Frustrating and disappointing he couldn't play those last four games, but he has got himself picked for the next stage and hopefully will do well in the 50 over games.

"I think the two young lads, Tom Curran and Joe Clarke, did extremely well and that at times it doesn't matter how old you are, it's how you are playing and both of them impressed the rest of the group."

National selector James Whitaker said: “There has been a white-ball focus for the Lions this winter and after a successful T20 series against Pakistan A, they now have the opportunity to gain further valuable 50-over experience."

England Lions squad

James Vince (Hampshire, capt)

Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire)

Daniel Bell-Drummond (Kent)

Sam Billings (Kent)

Joe Clarke (Worcestershire)

Tom Curran (Surrey)

Liam Dawson (Hampshire)

Ben Foakes (Surrey)

Dawid Malan (Middlesex)

Craig Overton (Somerset)

Jamie Overton (Somerset)

Stephen Parry (Lancashire)

Liam Plunkett (Yorkshire)

Toby Roland-Jones (Middlesex)

Tom Westley (Essex)

Ross Whiteley (Worcestershire)