Saturday 30 May 2020 09:53, UK
England are edging closer to a return to competitive cricket and have named a 55-man training group as they build up to scheduled summer games against West Indies, Ireland, Pakistan and Australia.
Among the big names and those who pressed their long-term claims in New Zealand and South Africa over the winter are a whopping 14 uncapped players - six seamers, six batsmen, a wicketkeeper-batsman and a spinner.
So, who are they - and why are England interested? Here is a brief guide...
JAMIE OVERTON (Somerset)
Quicker and more aggressive than his twin brother Craig - who has played four Tests and a solitary one-day international for England - Jamie bagged 28 wickets in eight County Championship games for runners-up Somerset in Division One last term as well as six in two matches while on loan at Northamptonshire in Division Two. Jamie's career has been affected by injury but his express pace means he remains on the radar as England look ahead to the next Ashes tour down under in 2021-22.
OLLIE ROBINSON (Sussex)
Robinson's stats over the last two campaigns, albeit in Division Two, have been remarkable - 74 wickets at 18.66 in 2018 and 63 at 16.44 in 2019, taking his overall first-class record to 236 wickets in 56 games at 22.33. He also picked up seven wickets in the match this winter as England Lions secured a first win over Australia A. Consistent, accurate and skilful, Robinson has also added pace, according to Chris Jordan, who says his Sussex team-mate "is 100 per cent a potential England cricketer."
BRYDON CARSE (Durham)
One of the names you may be least familiar with. South Africa-born but starring in the north east after overcoming injury problems, Carse snared 35 scalps at 26.85 in County Championship Division Two in 2019, including three five-wicket hauls and a best of 6-26 against Middlesex, while he also picked up 10 victims in the One-Day Cup. Like Robinson, he impressed in the unofficial Test win over Australia A, taking 3-50 in the first innings. "I always like to bring that x-factor to any side," Carse recently told The Cricketer.
HENRY BROOKES (Warwickshire)
The 20-year-old is certainly quick, with the ability to top 90mph, but he is also raw with only 44 games to his name across red and white-ball cricket. Brookes picked up 21 first-class wickets in just five games in 2018 before a stress fracture of the back truncated his season and he was slightly less effective last term with 32 scalps in 11 games at an average in the forties. However, he did impress with 13 wickets in the Vitality Blast and is rated highly by former Warwickshire supremo and current managing director of England cricket, Ashley Giles.
TOM HELM (Middlesex)
Touted as an outsider for a place on England's previous Ashes tour in 2017-18 by Sky Sports expert Michael Atherton, Helm has snared 78 wickets in his 29 first-class games with his smooth, repeatable action. The tall seamer only made seven Championship appearances for his county in 2019 but still managed to take 24 wickets including two five-fors, while he picked up 34 scalps in white-ball cricket, including 19 in the One-Day Cup, a tally only trumped by five bowlers. At 26, he could be coming into his prime.
RICHARD GLEESON (Lancashire)
At 32, Gleeson is the senior man among England's uncapped 14. The seamer, who transferred from Northamptonshire to home county Lancashire in 2018, was a late starter in county cricket, only making his first-class debut in 2015 at the age of 27. Gleeson's first-class stats are stellar, though, with 140 wickets at 21 in 33 games, including 47 last year as Lancashire earned promotion. His white-ball skills have also seen him enjoy stints in the Big Bash and Bangladesh Premier League.
AMAR VIRDI (Surrey)
Spinner Virdi will become just the third Sikh to play for England - after Monty Panesar and Ravi Bopara - if he steps up to the international stage, something he has long been expected to do. The 21-year-old off-spinner took 39 wickets in the 2018 County Championship to help Surrey win the title and, after missing the first nine games in 2019 as his fitness dropped below a level his county deemed satisfactory, Virdi returned in style with match figures of 14-139 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge.
DAN LAWRENCE (Essex)
After helping Essex complete a County Championship-Vitality Blast double in 2019, Lawrence was in electric form for the Lions over the winter, scoring two hundreds and a fifty in the three red-ball games down under and averaging a lick under 100 across all formats. Eyes have been on Lawrence since he scored a Championship century at the age of 17 - the third youngest man to do so - against Surrey in 2015 and he has now scored over 3,800 runs in 70 first-class games, including 10 tons. Bowls tidy spin as well.
PHIL SALT (Sussex)
With Alex Hales still in England exile, Salt has been given a chance to press for white-ball honours. The right-hander - drafted into the England squad for the one-off T20 against Pakistan last summer before missing out on the final XI - has become a consistent T20 performer and not just for Sussex, for whom he has passed 350 runs in each of the previous two Blast seasons at strike rates of 172 and 161 respectively. Salt also tonked four Big Bash fifties for Adelaide Strikers this winter, having been snapped for £100k in the inaugural Hundred Draft by Manchester Originals.
SAM HAIN (Warwickshire)
Born in Hong Kong and raised primarily in Australia, Hain now calls Edgbaston home. The 24-year-old averages 59.78 in 58 games in List A cricket, the highest of anyone ever to play more than 50 matches. The great Virat Kohli averages 57.86, albeit from a far greater sample size of 282 games! Hain's white-ball acumen was evident in the first fixture of England Lions' Australia tour this winter when he struck an unbeaten 122 against Cricket Australia from the No 3 position, while he averaged over 50 for Warwickshire in red-ball cricket last term and over 41 in T20s.
LAURIE EVANS (Sussex)
The former Surrey and Warwickshire batsman, 32, is a regular run-scorer in white-ball cricket for the Hove outfit and hit a tournament-leading 614 in the 2018 Vitality Blast as Sussex made the final. T20 franchises soon came calling with Evans since playing in the BPL, PSL and CPL, ending his 2019 stint in the latter for St Kitts and Nevis Patriots with a half-century. He also struck 94 for the Lions in the game in which Hain hammered his 122 not out.
WILL JACKS (Surrey)
Jacks hit the headlines in March 2019 when he tonked a 25-ball century in a pre-season T10 affair against Lancashire, including six sixes in an over of spinner Stephen Parry. Sounds like he will fit right in with England's attacking batting philosophy in white-ball cricket! Jacks, who also bowls useful off-spin, averaged in the twenties across formats in a timid 2019 season, though the 21-year-old did register his maiden first-class century against Kent at Beckenham, a season after nailing a first List A hundred.
TOM KOHLER-CADMORE (Yorkshire)
Kohler-Cadmore was charged by the ECB last year for bringing the game into disrepute following sordid messages on a WhatsApp group but has since let his cricket do the talking. The powerful batsman topped 1,000 runs for Yorkshire in first-class cricket in 2019, with his three tons including a superb 165 not out 175 balls against Warwickshire. He also averaged over 60 in the Vitality Blast with five fifty-plus scores in 10 innings, and over 40 in the One-Day Cup, although he had a fairly quiet winter with the Lions.
JAMES BRACEY (Gloucestershire)
England are well-stocked for glovemen with Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Billings and Ben Foakes around but Bracey could take the mitts if necessary. His primary suit right now, though, is batting with the left-hander's top-order runs helping Gloucestershire to promotion to Division One last term. He is also averaging over 60 from an albeit small sample of nine List A matches and, like others on this list, impressed in Australia over the winter, notching a couple of fifties during the Lions' tour.
