Warwickshire batsman Adam Hose is the latest addition to the North squad who are aiming for revenge in this year’s North-South Series in Barbados, while Surrey wicketkeeper-batsman Ollie Pope will join the South squad looking for a repeat of last year’s 3-0 win.
Hose, who joined Warwickshire from Somerset last season and made a big impact in their run to the final of the NatWest T20 Blast, replaces Ben Duckett, who is to have surgery on a finger injury that has been troubling him throughout the winter – *details below.
Pope, who is currently on an ECB Overseas Placement in Sydney, gets his chance to impress the England selectors and management following the withdrawal of Liam Dawson, who has signed to play in the Pakistan Super League.
Dawson had also been due to join the England Lions for their 50-over series against West Indies A in Antigua next month. He has also withdrawn from that, but the selectors have yet to make a decision on whether to replace him in the squad.
James Whitaker, the National Selector, said: “This is a good opportunity for both Adam and Ollie to impress. Both of them produced some excellent performances for their counties last summer, especially in white-ball cricket.
“Ollie will be the second player in the South squad who is currently on an ECB Overseas Placement in Sydney, joining Delray Rawlins. With one young fast bowler from the Pace Programme in each squad in Paul Walter and Zak Chappell, we hope the North-South Series will allow players from the International Pathway to shine at a higher level.”
The teams will each play a warm-up game on March 15 before the three-match series at the Kensington Oval on March 18, 21 and 23. The Kensington Oval will also stage the MCC’s Champion County match against Essex from March 27-30 in a spring festival of English cricket in Barbados.
Revised Squads
North: S Mullaney (Notts, captain), S Hain (Warwickshire), A Hose (Warwickshire), J Clarke (Worcestershire), K Jennings (Lancashire), B D’Oliveira (Worcestershire), A Davies (Lancashire, wk), P Coughlin (Notts), M Fisher (Yorkshire), S Mahmood (Lancashire), R Gleeson (Northamptonshire), Z Chappell (Leicestershire), M Parkinson (Lancashire).
South: S Northeast (Kent, captain), D Bell-Drummond (Kent), N Gubbins (Middlesex), D Lawrence (Essex), D Rawlins (Sussex), O Pope (Surrey), J Simpson (Middlesex, wk), S Curran (Surrey), P Walter (Essex), D Bess (Somerset), T Helm (Middlesex), J Porter (Essex), G Garton (Sussex).
*Ben Duckett is due to have surgery on the ring finger of his left hand next Monday, having initially sustained the injury in the field at the end of the 2017 season. He is likely to be ruled out for around 12 weeks.