Bairstow and Root receive Lions calls

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England selectors today named Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root in a 12-man England Lions squad to face West Indies in a four day fixture at Northampton commencing Thursday May 10.

Root and Bairstow will miss the LV= County Championship match against Gloucestershire at Bristol which starts on 9 May. Yorkshire are one of three counties who have two players involved in the Lions fixture, the others being Nottinghamshire and Surrey.

James Taylor will captain a side that includes Michael Carberry and Samit Patel who have both represented England at Test level.

Nine of the squad toured Bangladesh or Sri Lanka with England Lions last winter with Carberry, Nick Compton and Ben Stokes also included.

The only player in the squad uncapped at England Lions level is Matt Coles who spent the winter on the Potential England Performance Programme in Loughborough and Chennai before being added to the Lions squad for the final stages of the tour.

National Selector, Geoff Miller, said: “Many of the players included in this squad have worked hard on our overseas tours and training camps over the winter or have shown good early season form. West Indies will no doubt be challenging opposition and this fixture will present an opportunity for players to show that they are capable of taking the next step and representing England at Test level in the future.”

ENGLAND LIONS SQUAD

James Taylor (Nottinghamshire) (Captain), Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire), Jack Brooks (Northamptonshire), Michael Carberry (Hampshire), Matt Coles (Kent), Nick Compton (Somerset), Jade Dernbach (Surrey), Simon Kerrigan (Lancashire), Stuart Meaker (Surrey), Samit Patel (Nottinghamshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham)