Hampshire's Tom Alsop Catches the Eye for England U19s

Hampshire’s Tom Alsop and Lancashire’s Haseeb Hameed hit half centuries but Graham Onions showed his class on a guest appearance for the Unicorns as England Under-19s were given the tough opposition they wanted ahead of next week’s Youth Test against Australia in Durham.

Onions, who volunteered to help the England youngsters with their preparations, did not have any joy in his opening spell as Alsop and Hameed steered the Under-19s to 115 for one at lunch.

But the Durham craftsman had the left-handed Alsop caught behind for an impressive 68 in the first over after the interval and returned later in the afternoon to take the last three wickets for figures of four for 59.

Somerset’s Ben Green and Daniel Lawrence of Essex also made handy contributions to an Under-19s total of 247. The trans-Pennine new ball pair of Saqib Mahmood and Jared Warner each took an early wicket when the Unicorns replied, and the Lancashire legspinner Matt Parkinson also struck with a googly to leave them on 54 for three halfway through the two-day match.

Alsop and Hameed, who each scored a century in last summer’s home Under-19s series against South Africa, came together early when Max Holden of Middlesex fell lbw to Jack Grundy, a left-arm seamer from Stratford who played for Oxford MCCU this season.

They came through a probing opening burst from Onions as the left-handed Alsop, who recently made 195 for Hampshire’s second team, hit 11 fours in making 68 from 111 balls.

After Alsop’s dismissal, undone by a full delivery from Onions, Lawrence joined Hameed to add another 42 for the third wicket until the Lancastrian was bowled by the Cumberland left-arm spinner Toby Bulcock for a patient 57.

Warwickshire’s Aaron Thomason, Kent’s Ryan Davies and the Sussex all-rounder George Garton all fell cheaply but Green and Parkinson added a handy 33 for the eighth wicket before Onions returned after tea to polish off the tail.

Elsewhere at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough, Lawrence’s Essex team-mate Callum Taylor and the 17-year-old Northamptonshire all-rounder Saif Zaib were staking their claims for a place in next week’s Test with impressive performances against the Australians in their warm-up match against an Invitational XI.

Taylor, a hard-hitting batsman from Norfolk who made his senior Essex debut in the NatWest T20 Blast earlier this season, responded to the loss of two early wickets by hitting 63 from 55 balls with 10 fours and two sixes.

Worcestershire’s Olly Westbury provided determined support in the morning session against some testing Australian bowling, especially from the opening pair of Jyhe Richardson and David Grant. But the Invitational Squad had slipped to 171 for six before Zaib and Martin Andersson of Middlesex, who were team-mates in the England Under-17 squad who played Pakistan in Dubai last winter, transformed the match with a stunning unbroken partnership of 183.

Andersson hit 70 from 81 balls with six fours and three sixes, and Zaib reached a 112-ball century when he launched his fourth six with power that belied the left-hander’s slight build. Both Zaib and Taylor are in the 16-man squad from which England will select their team for the Test.