England Lions cricket team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The England Lions (formerly England A) cricket team is a cricket team representing England and Wales. It is the "second-tier" of international English cricket below the full English cricket team, and is largely intended as a way for promising young cricketers to gain experience of playing international cricket. Although primarily intended as a touring team, for several years in the 1990s they played one match in England at the start of each season: between 1992 and 1995 against the previous season's county champion and in 1996 and 1997 against a Rest of England team. England A also played two List A games against the full Sri Lankan touring side in England in 1991.
Although an "England B" side had played one game against the Pakistanis in 1982 and had made a full tour of Sri Lanka in 1985/86, the first tour by a team named "England A" was to Zimbabwe in 1989/90, and consisted of three first-class matches and three 50-over games. On this occasion England A played against the full Zimbabwe side, but on subsequent tours their most important opponents have usually been the equivalent A teams of the countries they have been touring. However, England A has never played a match against their Australian counterparts.
They also often play matches against state or provincial sides, and in 2000/01 England A participated in the Busta Cup, the West Indian domestic first-class competition, finishing in third place out of the eight teams taking part. In 2003/04 England A took part in India's Duleep Trophy competition, but failed to progress beyond the group stages after losing both their matches. There were no England A matches played in the period between these two tours.
The newly rebranded England Lions was then integrated with the ECB National Academy, with touring parties taken from the Academy squad. On 15 June 2007, it was announced by the ECB (English & Welsh Cricket Board) the inaugural Lions side would play a one-day touring warm-up match against the West Indies at Worcester.[1] Later in the summer against the touring Indians the Lions drew a 3 day match at Chelmsford.[2] and had a one day match abandoned due to rain at Northampton.[3]
On 4 January 2008 the squad for the England Lions tour of India was named, with Sussex batsman Michael Yardy named as captain. The team will compete in the 2008 Duleep Trophy domestic first-class competition in addition to friendly matches.[4]
[edit] England Lions Representatives 2005/06 to 2007/08
| Name | Role | County |
|---|---|---|
| Kabir Ali | Right-arm medium-fast bowler | Worcestershire |
| Tim Ambrose | Wicket-keeper, Right-handed batsman | Warwickshire |
| James Anderson | Right-arm fast bowler | Lancashire |
| Gareth Batty | Off spin bowler | Worcestershire |
| Ian Bell | Right-handed batsman | Warwickshire |
| Ravi Bopara | Right-handed batsman, Right-arm medium bowler | Essex |
| Tim Bresnan | Right-arm medium-fast bowler | Yorkshire |
| Stuart Broad | Right-arm fast-medium bowler, Left-handed batsman | Nottinghamshire |
| Michael Carberry | Left-handed opening batsman | Hampshire |
| Glen Chapple | Right-arm medium-fast bowler, Right-handed batsman | Retired |
| Rikki Clarke | Right-handed batsman, Right-arm medium bowler | Derbyshire |
| Nick Compton | Right-handed batsman | Middlesex |
| Alastair Cook | Left-handed opening batsman | Essex |
| Jamie Dalrymple | Right-handed batsman, Off spin bowler | Glamorgan |
| Steven Davies | Wicket-keeper, Left-handed batsman | Worcestershire |
| Joe Denly | Right-handed opening batsman | Kent |
| Andrew Flintoff | Right-arm fast-medium bowler, Right-handed batsman | Lancashire |
| James Foster | Wicket-keeper, Right-handed batsman | Essex |
| Alex Gidman | Right-handed batsman, Right-arm medium bowler | Gloucestershire |
| James Hildreth | Right-handed batsman | Somerset |
| Matthew Hoggard | Right-arm medium-fast bowler | Yorkshire County Cricket Club |
| Will Jefferson | Right-handed opening batsman | Nottinghamshire |
| Ed Joyce | Left-handed opening batsman | Middlesex |
| Robert Key | Right-handed batsman | Kent |
| Steven Kirby | Right-arm fast bowler | Gloucestershire |
| James Kirtley | Right-arm fast-medium bowler | Sussex |
| Jon Lewis | Right-arm medium-fast bowler | Gloucestershire |
| Alex Loudon | Off spin bowler | Retired |
| Mal Loye | Right-handed opening batsman | Lancashire |
| Darren Maddy | Right-handed batsman | Warwickshire |
| Sajid Mahmood | Right-arm fast-medium bowler | Lancashire |
| Dimitri Mascarenhas | Right-handed batsman, Right-arm medium-fast bowler | Hampshire |
| Phil Mustard | Wicket-keeper, Left-handed batsman | Durham |
| Paul Nixon | Wicket-keeper, Left-handed batsman | Leicestershire |
| Graham Onions | Right-arm medium-fast bowler | Durham |
| Monty Panesar | Slow left-arm bowler | Northamptonshire |
| Mark Pettini | Right-handed batsman | Essex |
| Liam Plunkett | Right-arm fast-medium bowler | Durham |
| Matt Prior | Wicket-keeper, Right-handed batsman | Sussex |
| Adil Rashid | Leg spin bowler, Right-handed batsman | Yorkshire |
| Chris Read | Wicket-keeper, Right-handed batsman | Nottinghamshire |
| Alan Richardson | Right-arm medium-fast bowler | Middlesex |
| Chris Schofield | Leg spin bowler | Surrey |
| Owais Shah | Right-handed batsman | Middlesex |
| Charlie Shreck | Right-arm fast-medium bowler | Nottinghamshire |
| Ryan Sidebottom | Left-arm fast-medium bowler | Nottinghamshire |
| Tom Smith | Right-arm medium fast bowler | Lancashire |
| Jeremy Snape | Right-handed batsman, Off spin bowler | Retired |
| Vikram Solanki | Right-handed batsman, Off spin bowler | Worcestershire |
| Andrew Strauss | Left-handed opening batsman | Middlesex |
| Graeme Swann | Off spin bowler, Right-handed batsman | Nottinghamshire |
| Chris Tremlett | Right-arm fast-medium bowler | Hampshire |
| Jonathan Trott | Right-handed batsman, Right-arm medium bowler | Warwickshire |
| Shaun Udal | Off spin bowler | Hampshire |
| Alex Wharf | Right-arm medium-fast bowler | Glamorgan |
| Luke Wright | Right-handed batsman, Right-arm medium-fast bowler | Sussex |
| Michael Yardy | Left-handed batsman, Slow left-arm/Left-arm medium bowler | Sussex |
[edit] Season-by-season results summary
| England A matches | First-class v A team | Other first-class | List A v A team | Other List A | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Country | W | D | L | W | D | L | W | L | NR | W | L | NR |
| 1989/90 | Zimbabwe[5] | - | - | - | 1 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 1990/91 | Pakistan[6] | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Sri Lanka | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | - | - | - | |
| 1991 | England | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1991/92 | West Indies | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1992 | England | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1992/93 | Australia | - | - | - | 0 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1993 | England | - | - | - | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1993/94 | South Africa | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1994 | England | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1994/95 | India | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - |
| 1995 | England | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1995/96 | Pakistan | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 1996 | England | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1996/97 | Australia | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 1997 | England | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1997/98 | Kenya[7] | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 1[8] |
| Sri Lanka | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1998/99 | Zimbabwe | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0[8] | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1[8] |
| South Africa | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 1999/2000 | Bangladesh[9] | - | - | - | 0 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| New Zealand | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2000/01 | West Indies | - | - | - | 3 | 4 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2003/04 | India | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2004/05 | Sri Lanka[10] | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2005/06 | West Indies | 0 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - | 2 | 3 | 0 | - | - | - |
| 2006/07 | Bangladesh | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - |
| 2007 | West Indies | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1[11] | 0 |
| India | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Solanki to lead England 'Lions'", 2007-06-15, BBC Sport. Retrieved on 2007-06-21.
- ^ "Strauss calls the tune", England and Wales Cricket Board.
- ^ "Deluge denies Lions", England and Wales Cricket Board.
- ^ "Yardy leads Lions in India", 2008-01-04, England and Wales Cricket Board. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.
- ^ England A played their three first-class matches against the full Zimbabwean side rather than the A team.
- ^ The tour was called off after two matches because of the start of the Gulf War.
- ^ All four matches were played against the full Kenyan side.
- ^ a b c One further match was abandoned without a ball being bowled.
- ^ All three matches were played against the full Bangladeshi side.
- ^ England took part in a triangular one-day tournament also involving Pakistan A. There were two games against Sri Lanka A (W1 L1) and two against Pakistan A (L2)7
- ^ Match played against the full West Indian side.
