Saturday 17 December 2011

Top Lions Rankin for Boyd


Nottinghamshire's James Taylor will lead a 16-man England Lions squad for their tour of Bangladesh beginning in January.

All 16 members were selected on the England Performance Programme in October and are currently training in India and South Africa.

ECB performance director David Parsons said: "We have selected a young squad for this tour.

"This is in line with our strategy of looking ahead to the 2015 World Cup."

The squad spent the first part of the winter training at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough.

"[We are] identifying and working with players who may be able to go on and play a role for England in the future," added Parsons.

"These players have worked extremely hard over the last couple of months with a strong focus on limited-overs cricket.

"This tour presents a good opportunity for these players to continue to develop their skills in subcontinent conditions on what will no doubt be a challenging tour of Bangladesh, as well as push for selection for future England squads."ENGLAND LIONS SQUAD

James Taylor (Nottinghamshire - captain), Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Scott Borthwick (Durham), Danny Briggs (Hampshire), Jack Brooks (Northants), Nathan Buck (Leicestershire), Jos Buttler (Somerset), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Simon Kerrigan (Lancashire), Tom Maynard (Surrey), Stuart Meaker (Surrey), Tymal Mills (Essex), Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jason Roy (Surrey), James Vince (Hampshire).