A County Select XI that will take on an Indian team in the lead-up to the England Test series has announced a 14-man squad for the three-day warm-up fixtures. Will Rhodes, the Warwichshire skipper, will lead the team with the contest slated to be played at the Riverside Stadium from July 20.
The 26-year-old Rhodes is a left-handed batter who has played 65 first-class matches and scored 3549 runs so far. He averages 35.49 and has six hundreds to his name as well. He has scored 452 runs this county season and along with his in the squad is Haseeb Hameed, who has played three Tests for England before, and scored 642 runs in the season so far.
The highest run-getter of the season so far Jake Libby is also part of the squad.
“The squad was selected after consulting with the first-class counties on player availability and to provide some of the high potential talent from across the county game with the opportunity to test themselves against the ICC World Test Championship finalists. The county players will bridge into a team environment and undergo Covid testing before being cleared to play in the match," the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said in a release.
“The ECB would like to place on record its thanks to the first-class counties for their continued support to make players available for this fixtures and to Durham County Cricket Club for providing facilities for this match to be staged," the release added.
The match will be played inside closed doors.
Meanwhile, the Indian camp has been hit by coronavirus with Rishabh Pant in quarantine after testing positive on July 8. A member of the support staff, training assistant/net bowler Dayanand Garani, has also been infected.
While Indian players have left for Durham, Pant will only be allowed to join after returning two negative RT-PCR tests.
“The BCCI Medical Team have identified B. Arun, Bowling Coach, Wriddhiman Saha and Abhimanyu Easwaran as close contacts of Garani, who was in the team hotel when he tested positive following RT-PCR tests on 14th July. The four personnel will undergo 10-day isolation and will remain in their respective rooms in the team hotel in London," the BCCI said in a statement on Thursday.
County Select XI squad: Will Rhodes (Warwickshire - captain), Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), Tom Aspinwell (Lancashire), Ethan Bamber (Middlesex), James Bracey (Gloucestershire), Jack Carson (Sussex), Zak Chappell (Nottinghamshire), Haseeb Hameed (Nottinghamshire), Lyndon James (Nottinghamshire), Jake Libby (Worcestershire), Craig Miles (Warwickshire), Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire), James Rew (Somerset), Rob Yates (Warwickshire).
Get all the IPL news and Cricket Score here