Dom Sibley included in Lions squad for Australia tour

Onecricket

Dom Sibley, Matt Parkinson and Saqib Mahmood have been named in the 14-man England Lions squad that will travel to Australia next month. 

The Lions will provide the Joe Root-led side with opposition for the warm-up matches ahead of the first Ashes Test at Gabba and will also play a four-day tour match against Australia ‘A’. The Lions would be travelling overseas for the first time in almost two years as they last visited Australia back at the start of 2020. 

Sibley was dropped from the England squad after the second Test match against India at home and was replaced by Haseeb Hameed.

There has been an uproar in the English media about the unconventional techniques of their batsmen, something that led to Sibely's departure from the India series. He was further dropped from the Ashes line-up as well.

Parkinson and Mahmood on the other hand, have been picked after the two players were among wickets recently. 

Leg-spinner Parkinson picked up a total of 36 wickets in the Championship for Lancashire while Mahmood had impressed everyone during the ODI series against Pakistan and had also returned with 28 Championship scalps for Red Rose county in the eight matches that he featured in. The selectors didn’t include Liam Livingstone as he has had a hectic year and would want to spend some time at home. 

The squad will leave for Australia on November 4 along with the English team that will play the Ashes series. The Lion’s coaching staff and the captain are yet to be announced. 

Lions Squad: Tom Abell (Somerset), Josh Bohannon (Lancashire), James Bracey (Gloucestershire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Mason Crane (Hampshire), Matthew Fisher (Yorkshire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Alex Lees (Durham), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Liam Norwell (Warwickshire), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire), Dom Sibley (Warwickshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Rob Yates (Warwickshire)

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