Monday, 21st April 2008
Rashid included in England Performance Squad
The
England and Wales Cricket Board today announced a 26-man England Performance Squad for this summer’s international season which includes three players from Yorkshire - Michael Vaughan, Matthew Hoggard and Adil Rashid.
The EPS, which has been chosen by the
England selectors, consists of 12 players currently on 12-month ECB contracts plus 14 non-contracted players.
Adil Rashid is one of three players who are uncapped at international level, the other two being Michael Carberry and James Tredwell. Kent opening batsman, Robert Key, is also selected after last playing for England on the tour of
South Africa in 2004-05.
Adil's inclusion is great news for him and Yorkshire cricket and is further recognition of his talent and progress. Unless Adil is called up to the full England side the Club do not anticipate losing his services much this summer as the ECB are keen for him to play competitive cricket for Yorkshire.
The
England Head Coach,
Peter Moores, can withdraw players included in the squad from domestic cricket at his discretion, but as in previous years it is not anticipated that this will lead to a significant reduction in the amount of county cricket played by players who do not feature in the international programme.
The National Selector, Geoff Miller, said: “The England Performance Squad is designed to allow
Peter Moores to closely monitor the development of international players and better prepare them for the demands of the international game. The selectors can name up to 30 players in the EPS, but we have decided to keep four places vacant at present in order to give ourselves greater flexibility and we will reserve the right to add further players to the squad if their performances in domestic cricket merit it."
Miller continued, “We were delighted with the progress made by several of our younger players during the winter both with the full
England side and the England Lions but have decided not to award 6-month summer contracts to any individuals at this stage of the season. The awarding of contracts is based on our assessment of a player’s performance in international cricket over a period of time and we can, of course, opt to award contracts on a pro-rata basis during the middle of the domestic international season if appropriate.”
England Performance Squad 2008 Tim Ambrose (Warwickshire)
James Anderson(
Lancashire ) *
Ian Bell (Warwickshire) *
Ravi Bopara (Essex)
Stuart Broad (Nottinghamshire)
Michael Carberry (Hampshire)
Paul Collingwood (
Durham )*
Alastair Cook (
Essex )*
Andrew Flintoff (
Lancashire ) *
Stephen Harmison (
Durham )*
Matthew Hoggard (
Yorkshire )*
Robert Key (
Kent )
Dimitri Mascarenhas (Hampshire)
Philip Mustard (
Durham )
Monty Panesar (Northamptonshire)*
Kevin Pietersen (Hampshire)*
Matthew Prior (
Sussex )
Adil Rashid (
Yorkshire )
Owais Shah (Middlesex)
Andrew Strauss (Middlesex)*
Ryan Sidebottom (Nottinghamshire)*
Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire)
James Tredwell (
Kent )
Chris Tremlett (Hampshire)
Michael Vaughan (
Yorkshire )*
Luke Wright (
Sussex )
* denotes those 12 players currently in receipt of 12-month ECB contracts which run from October 1 2007 to September 30 2008.
