LONDON: England selectors included the teenage pace bowling trio of Saqib Mahmood, George Garton and Sam Curran in the 13-man Lions squad for the one-day tri-series against Pakistan ‘A’ and Sri Lanka ‘A’.

While Garton and Saqib will play the full series, Curran will join the squad only for the final two matches.

The trio was part of the England squad for the Under-19 World Cup in Bangladesh earlier this year. Tom Curran and Jamie Overton are the other two pacers named in the squad.

Dawid Malan, the Middlesex batsman, who was recently picked in the England Twenty20 squad for the one-off international against Sri Lanka, has been named the skipper.

Worcestershire duo Brett D’Oliveira and Joe Clarke make the cut as well, rewarded for their excellent form in the county championship.

“The Lions play a key role in our development of international cricketers, and we believe this is an exciting squad,” national selector James Whitaker said. “There is a balance of players who have represented the Lions before, with a few new faces for the future who we feel will benefit from the experience of and exposure to Lions cricket.”

Andy Flower, the Lions head coach, reckons the series could help the young players test themselves against quality opposition.

“It is important for the Lions to play home matches in the summer as well as touring during the winter for a number of reasons, and we are grateful to the counties for recognising that if we are going to reap the benefits of playing abroad in the winter, we have to offer the equivalent opportunity to the developing cricketers of Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

“We’ve had quite a large transition from last winter’s Lions squad to the national side, and that means we will have a much younger group. That is going to make this a challenging series against some experienced cricketers from Sri Lanka and Pakistan, but it will provide a great opportunity for our young players to test themselves.”

Pakistan ‘A’ will face Sri Lanka ‘A’ in the tournament opener on July 18 with the Lions playing Pakistan ‘A’ the following day.

Squad: Dawid Malan (captain), Daniel Bell-Drummond, Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke, Brett D’Oliveira, Sam Billings (wicket-keeper), Liam Livingstone, Liam Dawson, Tom Curran, Jamie Overton, Saqib Mahmood, George Garton, Sam Curran.

Published in Dawn, July 11th, 2016