Briggs and Vince Join England in Bangladesh

Vince will be on his first Lions tour

Vince picked for first Lions tour

Hampshire spinner Danny Briggs and batsman James Vince have been named in a 16-man England Lions squad for a tour of Bangladesh beginning in January.

For Vince it will mark his first ever tour with the Lions and shows a continuation of the faith his national side have put in him having played two Youth Tests, 16 Youth ODIs and one Youth Twenty20 International with England U19s in recent years.

Briggs was on the Lions’ tour of Australia last year where he played six First Class matches, taking 33 wickets in the process.

It marks a fantastic end to a year in which both were instrumental in the Hampshire Royals’ passage to Twenty20 Finals Day for a second successive season. Vince was the Club’s leading run scorer with 445 runs at an average of 34.23, while Briggs was the Royals’ leading wicket-taker for the second season in a row with 23 scalps at an average of 14.91.

Nottinghamshire batsman James Taylor will lead the squad during the tour which consists of a five match one day series against Bangladesh A followed by a two match Twenty20 series also against Bangladesh A.

All 16 members of the Lions squad were selected on the England Performance Programme in October and have spent the first part of the winter training at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough and are currently training in India and South Africa.

ECB Performance Director David Parsons said: “We have selected a young squad for this tour which is in line with our strategy of looking ahead to the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup and identifying and working with players who may be able to go on and play a role for England in the future.

“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)

England Lions will then travel to Sri Lanka following the conclusion of the Bangladesh tour for a one day series against Sri Lanka A. The squad for the Sri Lanka tour will be announced in January.

England Lions Fixtures:

6 January	Practice match	Chittagong
8 January	50 over match v Bangladesh A	Chittagong
10 January	50 over match v Bangladesh A	Chittagong
13 January	50 over match v Bangladesh A	Chittagong
16 January	50 over match v Bangladesh A	Sylhet
18 January	50 over match v Bangladesh A	Sylhet
21 January	T20 v Bangladesh A	Dhaka
23 January	T20 v Bangladesh A	Dhaka