England Young Lions to tour Sri Lanka with plenty of experience on board

Hamza Hameed November 6, 2021

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Under-19 tour includes five ODIs in preparation for next year’s World Cup

England have named a clutch of youngsters with county experience in a Young Lions squad to tour Sri Lanka later this month.

The Under-19 tour will include five ODIs and is key to preparations for the ICC Mens’ Under-19 World Cup, which starts in the Caribbean in January.

England’s 19-man squad will arrive in Sri Lanka on November 22, with all five matches being played in a bio-secure environment at Colombo’s Singhalese Sports Club Cricket Ground. The squad is largely the same as the one which defeated West Indies Under-19s 4-2 in their ODI series, in September but with Worcestershire’s Josh Baker, Yorkshire’s Ben Cliff and Harry Crawshaw, of Durham, coming in for Archie Lenham and Harry Petrie.

Dan Ibrahim and James Coles – who along with Lenham were part of a teenage brigade which impressed for Sussex during the latter half of the 2021 domestic season – retain their places in the Young Lions squad, as do Barbados-born Jacob Bethell, of Warwickshire, and Hampshire’s Tom Prest, who shared captaincy of the England side against West Indies.

Spin duo Josh Baker and Rehan Ahmed performed well for Worcestershire and Leicestershire respectively during the English summer to be named in the squad. Also named were James Sales of Northamptonshire and fellow seamer Sonny Baker, who was the leading wicket-taker during West Indies’ visit with 10 wickets at 16.50 including 4 for 41 in the final fixture, having made his Somerset debut and played eight Royal London Cup matches for the club this year. Two other Somerset debutants from the class of 2021, James Rew and George Thomas, were also included.

Richard Dawson, the Young Lions head coach, said: “It’s a great opportunity for our squad to experience touring the sub-continent. It will give them a chance to play in a pressurised environment against their international peers in unfamiliar conditions.

“This trip is an integral part of their future development and will also provide good preparation leading into the ICC Men’s U19s World Cup.”

Young Lions squad: Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), Tom Aspinwall (Lancashire), Josh Baker (Worcestershire), Sonny Baker (Somerset), Nathan Barnwell (Surrey), George Bell (Lancashire), Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire), Josh Boyden (Lancashire), Ben Cliff (Yorkshire), James Coles (Sussex), Harry Crawshaw (Durham), Alex Horton (Glamorgan), Dan Ibrahim (Sussex), Will Luxton (Yorkshire), Tom Prest (Hampshire), James Rew (Somerset), James Sales (Northamptonshire), Fateh Singh (Nottinghamshire), George Thomas (Somerset)

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