Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Bell-drummond happy to let bat do talking
FIXTURES
KENT’S NEXT FIVE GAMES CC2 May 26 Sussex (Tun Wells)............ CC2 June 8 Durham (Canterbury)....... .. CC2 July 3 Northants (Beckenham) Division 2 Key: CC2 = Specsavers County Championship Kent opener Daniel BellDrummond has been called-up to a strong England Lions one-day squad to play three internationals against South Africa A next month. The 23-year-old is in line to feature in the three-match one-day series which begins at Trent Bridge on June 1 with two further games and Northampton on June 3 and 5. Bell-drummond claimed the standard was higher than domestic cricket, adding: “It’s definitely a step-up – when you’re playing for your country at any sort of level there’s that pressure on it as well. “South Africa have had Dale Steyn in their A team this year. There are a lot of good players in A team cricket. It’s strong. “They are both high standard but playing for your country has that extra expectation.” The opener says he should not the only Kent player on the radar of national selector James Whitaker, adding: “Sam Northeast, everyone knows he’s good enough to be there, if not higher, Alex Blake, definitely in the one-day formats, they should definitely have a look at him. “There are a lot of good young cricketers at Kent.” For his part, Whitaker said: “We wanted to select a strong and experienced Lions squad for this series, as it coincides with the early stages of the ICC Champions Trophy and provides us with the opportunity to keep our standby players in white-ball action. “The quality of the squad we have selected reflects well on the strength in depth we now have in 50-over cricket which has emerged through the county game. “All the players in this squad will have the 2019 World Cup in their sights and playing for the Lions offers them the platform to show what they can do.” The Lions will also play a four-day game against South Africa A at the Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence from June 21-24 – meaning BellDrummond could miss Kent’s game at Worcester if selected – and then a three-day match against the senior South Africa tourists in Worcester from June 29-July 1. Squads are set to be named next month. Bell-drummond’s Royal London One-day Cup performances – 443 runs in eight knocks at an average of more than 63 – were enough to secure him a return to the North v South tournament in Abu Dhabi next pre-season. He added: “It was a great tournament two months ago and I was happy with how I went in that. It was awesome to play in front of the selectors and be among England players and those on the fringe.” As for even higher honours, Bell-drummond claimed he is ‘not looking too far ahead.’ He added: “I just try and take each day as it comes, my ambition has always been to play for England but the one-day team are strong at the moment. “I’m just looking to score runs where I can. My main goal and ambition is to play for England but I can’t control that other than by scoring runs for Kent.”