England lift as county go on tour
COACH Andrew Gale has named a 20-man squad for Yorkshire’s preseason tour of South Africa next month.
After three successive trips to the United Arab Emirates, the playing staff and coaches will fly to Potchefstroom, South Africa on March 7 for a 13-day stay at the NWU PUK Sports Village.
The White Rose will play separate two-day and 50-over matches against Nottinghamshire, as well as a 50-over match against Leeds Bradford UCCE and an inter-squad two-day game.
The squad are due to arrive back in the UK on March 21, with a twoday match against Durham at Emirates Riverside (April 3) and the firstclass fixture against Leeds Bradford MCCU, which gets under way on Saturday, April 7, already scheduled.
The Club’s Specsavers County Championship season opener against Essex is on Friday, April 13 (11am).
Bowler Liam Plunkett, who was recently ruled out of the England ODI series against New Zealand with a hamstring injury, will travel with the squad for the full trip as he steps up his recovery, while David Willey is due to join up with the group on March 14, following the completion of the five-match international series.
England Under 19 captain Harry Brook, who made his County Championship debut against Essex at Scarborough last year, will tour as part of his first full pre-season with the senior squad and recently spent time at the Fanie du Toit Sportsgrounds for England’s pre-World Cup training camp.
Brook is joined by Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Jared Warner and Willey in touring with Yorkshire for the first time.
Club captain Gary Ballance, who turned down the chance to represent the North squad in Barbados in March, will instead tour with his White Rose teammates having missed winter training at Emerald Headingley due to the Ashes tour.
England Test captain Joe Root and wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow are unavailable due to the Test series in New Zealand.
“What we wanted to do was to create team spirit throughout the winter,” said Gale.
“It will be great to have the England lads with us, but also some of the younger lads who haven’t been on tour with us before.”
Squad: Gary Balance, Tim Bresnan, Harry Brook, Jack Brooks, Karl Carver, Ben Coad, Andrew Hodd, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Jack Leaning, Alex Lees, Adam Lyth, Steven Patterson, Liam Plunkett, Azeem Rafiq, Josh Shaw, Jonathan Tattersall, James Wainman, Matthew Waite, Jared Warner, David Willey.