Surrey men Ben Foakes & Jamie Smith have both been named in the 14-strong England Lions squad to tour Australia this winter.
Smith is rewarded for an excellent 2021 season which saw him score more runs than any other batter and captain the Royal London Cup side to the semi-final of the competition. He recently won both the Members’ Player and Players’ Player of the Year prize at our End of Season Awards. This is his first call-up to England Lions level.
Foakes takes his place with the Lions after missing much of the 2021 season through a hamstring injury sustained by an accidental slip in the changing room in May. He did return to Surrey’s first XI for the final fixture of the campaign, keeping wicket and scoring 53 not out in a draw with Glamorgan.
The Lions will be in camp alongside the England Ashes squad and will play two intra-squad matches (1 x 3-day and 1 x 4-day matches) in Queensland. They will also take on Australia A in a four-day match. Dates and venues are still to be confirmed. The party will return home on 16 December, as the second senior men’s Test begins.
Coaching appointments will be announced in due course.
FULL LIONS SQUAD
Tom Abell (Somerset)
Josh Bohannon (Lancashire)
James Bracey (Gloucestershire)
Brydon Carse (Durham)
Mason Crane (Hampshire)
Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire)
Ben Foakes (Surrey)
Alex Lees (Durham)
Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire)
Liam Norwell (Warwickshire)
Matt Parkinson (Lancashire)
Dom Sibley (Warwickshire)
Jamie Smith (Surrey)
Rob Yates (Warwickshire)
