LONDON, CMC – Ben Duckett has been omitted from the England Lions’ tour of the Caribbean next year but Ben Foakes and Mason Crane, currently part of the Ashes squad, have been included in a strong touring party announced this week.
The 23-year-old Duckett, a part of the current Ashes tour, was already suspended for an incident in a Perth bar a couple of weeks ago when he poured a drink over teammate Jimmy Anderson.
The England and Wales Cricket Board confirmed Duckett had been overlooked because of the incident.
Foakes, however, a right-hander who averages 41 in first class cricket and leg-spinner Crane, who has played two Twenty20 Internationals, are in the four-day squad but overlooked for the one-day matches.
Both the red and white ball squads will be led by Keaton Jennings.
“We have included two members of the Ashes tour squad, Ben Foakes and Mason Crane, for the four-day matches, with the possibility of either or both of them leaving the Lions tour early if they are selected in the England squad for the two Tests in New Zealand in March and April,” said national selector, James Whitaker.
“We will be naming that squad in the New Year, and the same goes for the squads for the North-South Series which will be played in Barbados at the end of the Lions tour – and is likely to include the players who have been selected for the one-day series against West Indies A.”
Meanwhile, the highly-regarded pair of Jamie Porter and Sam Curran have been named in both squads, while fast bowler Roby Roland-Jones, who played two Tests against West Indies last summer, has been included in the red ball squad only.
Porter and Roland-Jones will be making comebacks from injury.
“Jamie Porter and Toby Roland-Jones are all available again after injuries – Jamie and Toby after working exceptionally hard on the ECB’s Pace Programme over the last couple of months,” Whitaker said.
“Sam Curran missed out on the Lions training camp in Australia but he has also been training hard, under the supervision of Surrey’s strength and conditioning coaches, before going out to play T20 cricket in New Zealand.’
England Lions face West Indies in three four-day “Tests” and three one-dayers from February to March 11 next year.
SQUAD – Keaton Jennings (captain), Joe Clarke, Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran, Jamie Porter, Paul Coughlin, Saqib Mahmood, Nick Gubbins, Alex Davies, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Ben Foakes, Toby Roland-Jones, Jack Leach, Mason Crane, Josh Tongue, Sam Northeast, Liam Dawson, Dom Bess, Tom Helm, George Garton, Matt Parkinson.
