Italy and Jersey International batters have been named in the England Lions’ 18-member squad for the tour of Australia, which will run parallel to the first two Ashes 2025 Tests, starting November 21.
The England Lions will lock horns with the main Ashes squad led by Ben Stokes in a red-ball game in Perth, serving as the only warm-up game ahead of the first Ashes Test at Optus Stadium. The Lions will then square off against Cricket Australia XI, Prime Minister’s XI, and Australia A before the tour concludes in early December.
The squad includes six capped players, including all-rounder Rehan Ahmed and young pacer Sonny Baker. Jordan Cox has also been included, having been a late-call-up to England’s T20I squad for the Ireland series earlier this month. Cox was on the verge of a Test debut against New Zealand last year, but a finger injury delayed his chance. The wicketkeeper-batter received another opportunity in the one-off Test against Zimbabwe to start the summer, only to be ruled out with an abdominal muscle injury.
Matthew Fisher, whose only Test appearance came in 2022, has been rewarded with selection after taking 11 wickets at The Oval against eventual County Championship champions Nottinghamshire in the penultimate round. Tom Lawes also makes the squad following his hostile spell against Warwickshire, where he took three wickets off just 10 balls. Other familiar faces include Josh Hull, Tom Hartley, and James Rew, while the first time are Thomas Rew, Matthew Revis, and Ben Kellaway.
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Asa Tribe and Emilio Gay have been included in the squad. Tribe, who represents Glamorgan in the County cricket, has already played internationally for Jersey. He has featured in five ODIs and 26 T20Is with over 800 runs. The right-hand batter has scored 237 in ODIs at an impressive 59.25, including a hundred against Papua New Guinea and a fifty against the USA. In T20Is, Tribe has scored 564 runs at 124.22 with four fifties.
Gay, meanwhile, appeared for three T20Is for Italy against county sides earlier this year. However, he failed to leave his mark, managing just 64 runs at an average of 21.33, striking at 213.33, including a fifty. At the domestic level, he has represented Northamptonshire in 67 first-class and 38 List A matches for Northamptonshire and England A. In red-ball cricket, the left-hand batter has racked up 4150 runs in FC cricket, averaging 37.38 with 10 hundreds and 17 fifties. In 50-over cricket, the southpaw has amassed 1182 runs at 36.93, striking at 92.77 with two hundreds and seven fifties.
England Lions squad for Australia tour:
Rehan Ahmed, Sonny Baker, Jordan Cox, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, Nathan Gilchrist, Tom Hartley, Tom Haines, Josh Hull, Eddie Jack, Ben Kellaway, Tom Lawes, Ben McKinney, Matthew Revis, James Rew, Thomas Rew, Mitchell Stanley, Asa Tribe.
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