Thursday, October 29th, 2015

Clarke And Whiteley To Begin Preparations For Lions T20 Series

Clarke And Whiteley To Begin Preparations For Lions T20 Series

Joe Clarke and Ross Whiteley will begin their preparations next week for the England Lions T20 series against Pakistan 'A' in December.

The Worcestershire duo will take part in a four-day England Performance Programme training camp at the National Cricket Performance Centre (NCPC) in Loughborough.

Clarke and Whiteley will then attend a two and a half-week long batting – and spin – camp in Dubai starting on November 11.

On the same date a fast bowling group will travel to South Africa to take part in a ten-day training camp in Potchefstroom.

The two groups will then join forces in Dubai ahead of the opening T20 match in the five match series which gets underway on December 7.

Wicket-keeper-batsman Clarke is making the step up from the England Under-19 side he helped to reach the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup while all-rounder Whiteley has represented England in the Hong Kong Sixes.

Worcestershire Director of Cricket Steve Rhodes is also part of the Lions coaching set-up for their winter programme.

The former England wicket-keeper will attend Loughborough next week and then link up with the squad in late November in Dubai ahead of the T20 Series.

Rhodes will also be involved with the Lions for the five ODIs against Pakistan 'A' in the UAE in January for which a new squad will be chosen after the T20 series.