Graeme White and Mark Wood added to Lions one-day squad by England and Wales Cricket Board

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Player:	GG White, MA Wood
Event:	England Lions in Sri Lanka 2016/17
Other links:	Squads

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DateLine: 30th January 2017

 

Graeme White and Mark Wood have been added to the England Lions squad for the one-day series against Sri Lanka A in March.

 

White fills a vacancy for a left-arm spinner that had been left by the selectors last December when they named separate squads for the one-day series and the two four-day matches against Sri Lanka A that precede it.

 

Wood is currently in South Africa with England cricket’s Pace Programme, as part of his return to cricket after an ankle operation last autumn.

 

Both White and Wood had already been included in the North squad for the three-match 50-over series against the South in Dubai and Abu Dhabi that will follow the Lions one-day series in Sri Lanka.

 

James Whitaker, England cricket’s National Selector, said: “We believe these selections will work well both for the Lions and for the players involved.

 

“We had always been planning to add a left-arm spinner to the 14 players we named last month for the one-day series, and Graeme White deserves this chance after his performances for Northamptonshire in county cricket last summer which had already earned him a place in the North team through the PCA’s Most Valuable Player rankings.

 

“Mark Wood will also be a valuable addition to the Lions squad, and in his case the one-day series in Sri Lanka is a good opportunity for him to start bowling again in competitive cricket before the North-South series and then the domestic 2017 season.”

 

White joined the Lions in their final preparations for Sri Lanka at England cricket’s Performance Centre in Loughborough last week.

 

The 15-man squad for the two four-day matches against Sri Lanka A in Kandy and Dambulla, which will be preceded by a three-day warm-up match at a venue still to be finalised, will leave for Colombo next Monday (February 6).

 

The six players who have been selected for the one-day leg of the tour only – Daniel Bell-Drummond, Ben Duckett, James Fuller, Josh Poysden, White and Wood – will join the squad later in the month in Dambulla, the venue for the second four-day match and the first two matches of the one-day series.

 

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2017 England and Wales Cricket Board)