Briggs Creates Hampshire Cricket History
Feb 21 2012
Hampshire spinner, Danny Briggs creates history today [Tuesday 21 February 2012] as he becomes the Club’s youngest cricketer to play for England.
At 20 years old, he inherits the mantle from Chris Tremlett, who first turned out for his country while at Hampshire, aged 23.
Briggs, who also becomes the first cricketer from the Isle of Wight to play for England, has been the Royals’ leading twenty20 bowler for the last two seasons, also topping the Championship tables for the Club last summer.
Speaking to this website after his selection for the squad, Briggs said; “For me it’s great to get in the squad, and I’ll go from there... I think there’s always been a bit of assistance for the spinners out here as opposed to other countries we’ve been in and I’ll just be trying to concentrate and keep it simple really and let some pitches do the job for you.
“You have to keep a clear game plan and go from there.”
Briggs got his first England Lions and England Performance Programme call-ups last winter where he impressed in tours to Australia and the West Indies. He took more than 50 wickets in the two combined tours and was rewarded for that with selection for the full England squad for two T20 Internationals against the West Indies in September, though he did not play.
He has since enjoyed two more highly successful Lions tours of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka earlier this winter, taking 16 wickets in two One-Day series against home ‘A’ squads.
Also speaking after Briggs' inclusion in the squad, Hampshire manager, Giles White said; “He’s been away this winter and I think everyone’s been very impressed with him.”
“He’s obviously done well and deserves his chance but now it’s about getting into the final XI and making a statement.”
The full England team to face Pakistan in the fourth One Day International in Dubai is as follows: Alastair Cook, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kieswetter, Jos Buttler, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach, Danny Briggs, Steven Finn.
Also involved in the match is Hampshire player and Pakistan all-rounder, Shahid Afridi. Afridi will, once again, turn out for the Royals in this season’s Friends Life t20 competition as their overseas player having taken 17 wickets in 10 matches at an average of 11.17 to help his side through the group stages unbeaten at home and to t20 Finals Day at Edgbaston last season.
Coverage of how both players progress can be followed on the Club’s Twitter and Facebook feeds.
Click on the audio file below to hear the interviews with Danny Briggs (top) and Giles White (bottom) mentioned above in full or press the downward-pointing arrows to download and listen on your mobile device.
Words: Simon Vincent
Images: Getty