England’s future stars get Champions Trophy boost
ENGLAND’S fringe players have been handed a Champions Trophy lifeline thanks to a revamp of rules that means changes can be made to squads up to a week before the start of the tournament.
Teams have to submit their 15man Champions Trophy squads to the International Cricket Council by May 1 – a month before England get the competition underway against Bangladesh at The Oval.
That is four days before the start of England’s two-match series against Ireland, when fringe players such as Surrey fast bowler Tom Curran – included in England’s party to tour the West Indies where Alex Hales (right) scored 110 on his return to the side yesterday – will get their chance to press for selection.
Under old ICC tournament regulations, once squads were submitted, changes could only be made in the event of injury. However, under the ICC’s new Members Participation Agreement (MPA), which covers ICC events up until 2023, teams are no longer required to name a provisional 30-man squad 60 days before the start of the
tournament. Instead, they have to name a 15-man party 30 days out and are also allowed to make changes to that without ICC approval until the start of what is termed the ‘Support Period’. The Support Period for this summer’s Champions Trophy begins on May 25.
While England’s first-choice XI for the Champions Trophy is all but locked in, there may be one or two places in the squad still up for grabs.
That means the likes of Curran, called up for England’s tour of the Caribbean as injury cover but yet to make his debut, and Livingstone, who has impressed for the Lions in Sri Lanka, now have the chance to force their way into the Champions Trophy reckoning should they make compelling cases in those matches against Ireland at Bristol on May 5 and Lord’s two days later.
Meanwhile, Jason Roy, out for a disappointing 17 in yesterday’s final ODI against West Indies in Barbados, has praised Surrey’s recruitment of Kevin Pietersen for this summer’s T20 Blast.
“It’s great to have him on board again,” said Roy. “He’s a huge asset to our batting unit, and on paper we’ve got a pretty exciting line-up.”
As The Cricket Paper went to press, England were 270-6 after 44 overs. Joe Root was out for 101, while Jos Buttler’s poor form continued as he made just seven.