Vince Hoping To Impress During England Lions Series

James Vince is urging his England Lions team to make the most of a great chance to impress in the three-match one-day series against South Africa A which starts at Trent Bridge tomorrow (Thursday).

While England’s current 50-over team launch their Champions Trophy bid against Bangladesh at The Oval, selectors James Whitaker and Mick Newell will be in Nottingham running the rule over the players deemed next in line.

“Obviously I’m not a selector but I’d say looking at the side this must be pretty close to our second team in white-ball cricket,” said Vince, who has been recalled to the Lions captaincy after impressing with his leadership of the South team to a 3-0 whitewash in the North-South Series earlier in the year.

“It’s a good opportunity for all of us with the Champions Trophy on, to put our names forward in case anyone is injured and an opening crops up.

“That’s what James Whitaker said to me on the ‘phone, that this was a chance to have people playing white-ball cricket and ready to go.”

Vince is set to bat at number four behind Ben Duckett, Dawid Malan and Daniel Bell-Drummond in a powerful Lions line-up which also includes Liam Livingstone, in-form Essex youngster Dan Lawrence and Liam Dawson, who was recalled to the England one-day squad for the third match of their Royal London One-Day Series at Lord’s on Monday.

Steven Finn, who won his 69^th ODI cap at Lord’s, has also been selected in the Lions squad to maintain his white-ball sharpness, and is joined in the fast-bowling battery by Craig Overton, Surrey’s Curran brothers and Sussex left-armer George Garton, who impressed when given his Lions debut last summer.

Ben Foakes is the wicketkeeper and one of six survivors of the last Lions one-day squad for a five-match series in Sri Lanka earlier this year in which Overton and Bell-Drummond were especially impressive.

Even if only a handful of the players are in with a realistic chance of being fast-tracked to the Champions Trophy squad, all of them are very much in contention for the Royal London One-Day Series against West Indies later this summer – and the 2019 World Cup is a tantalising goal for all.

“There’s a few slightly more experienced players but still not old, plus younger guys like Craig Overton and the Currans, so that World Cup is definitely a factor,” added Vince.

The South Africans have been frustrated by indifferent weather since arriving in Yorkshire last week but the forecast is good for Nottingham tomorrow, when entry will be free.

They include a number of players with senior international experience such as Temba Bavuma and Theunis de Bruyn, who was outstanding when the Lions toured South Africa in early 2015.

That was a significant tour for Vince, who took over the captaincy from Jonathan Trott for the one-day series and led the team to an impressive series win in which the aggressive brand of cricket set the tone for a change in the senior England team’s approach.

“I remember Jason Roy and Ben Stokes were two of the guys on that trip who played really well and the Lions are very much on board with the way England play their one-day cricket,” added the Hampshire man.

“So we’ll try and play as England do, and I’ll enjoy the captaincy. I’ve enjoyed doing it before and I’m still doing the white ball stuff at Hampshire so it’s still in the front of my mind.”

The second and third games of the series are both in Northampton, on Saturday and then a day-night match on Monday. The Lions will then name separate squads for a four-day match against South Africa A in Canterbury, followed quickly by a three-day game against the senior South Africa tourists in Worcester.

Lions squad: Malan, Duckett, Bell-Drummond, Vince (capt), Lawrence, Livingstone, Dawson, Foakes (wk), S Curran, T Curran, Overton, Finn, Garton.