Northants star Duckett set to travel to Australia with England Lions

Ben Duckett is heading to Australia (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)Ben Duckett is heading to Australia (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)
Ben Duckett is heading to Australia (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)
Northants star Ben Duckett will head to Australia with the England Lions this winter.

Duckett is to take part in a training camp during November and December.

The Lions will spend a week at the Performance Centre in Loughborough before flying to Brisbane on November 14 for a two-week camp with a red-ball focus.

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That will culminate in a three-day match against a Queensland XI at the Allan Border Oval from November 27-29 – although this will not be an official England Lions fixture.

They then head west to Perth for two weeks, focusing on white-ball skills, during which they will play three T20 matches against a Scorchers team who will be preparing for the Big Bash.

The Lions squad for a seven-week trip to the West Indies in 2018, including three four-day matches and three 50-over fixtures, will be selected in December, along with the squads for the North-South Series which follows in Barbados in March.

Duckett is one of four members of the squad who have played Test cricket, with Keaton Jennings, Tom Westley and Mark Wood also selected.

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The Lancashire all-rounder Liam Livingstone is the fifth member of the squad with senior international experience.

James Whitaker, the national selector, said: “This camp provides an opportunity for emerging young talent and some players with international experience to work hard on their game in Australia, in excellent facilities, under the guidance of Andy Flower and our other lead coaches.

"The players selected have a range of experience, and we believe they are an exciting group.

“This is a great chance for them to impress, before we select another Lions squad for the games against West Indies A in the second half of the winter.

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"We would expect a number of other players to be in contention for that squad – for example Haseeb Hameed was not considered for the Australia camp to avoid him having to rush back from the injury he suffered recently playing for Lancashire.”

Lions: Dom Bess (Somerset), Joe Clarke (Worcestershire), Paul Coughlin (Durham/Nottinghamshire), Alex Davies (Lancashire), Ben Duckett (Northants), George Garton (Sussex), Nick Gubbins (Middlesex), Tom Helm (Middlesex), Keaton Jennings (Durham/Lancashire), Dan Lawrence (Essex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Jamie Porter (Essex), Amar Virdi (Surrey), Tom Westley (Essex), Mark Wood (Durham).

Winter dates

November 14 – depart for Australia.

November 15-29 – Brisbane, including three-day match against a Queensland XI at Allan Border Oval from 27-29

November 30 – December 16 – Perth, including T20 matches against Perth Scorchers on 11, 13 and 15

January 31 – March 12 – England Lions tour of West Indies

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