DBD helps Lions to series whitewash
Cricket
Daniel Bell-Drummond helped England Lions to victory in their one-day series against the UAE in Dubai.
The Kent opener scored 40 and shared 101 for the opening wicket with new Test recruit Keaton Jennings in the opening match, helping the Lions to an eightwicket win.
The tourists won the second match by 100 runs with Bell-Drummond not involved but he returned to score 15 in the third match, which the Lions won by 16 runs.
His fellow Kent opener Joe Denly smashed 161 for Sydney in the New South Wales First Grade on Saturday.
Denly followed up his knock with 34 off 25 balls in a 42-run win in the New South Wales Premier T20 Cup.
Kent team- mate Imran Qayyum finished his spell in South Africa in style, claiming eight wickets in a twoday match and another three in a one-day match.
The left-arm spinner took his tally to 14 scalps in three red-ball matches on Saturday before claiming 3-29 and three catches in a one-day match against Cape Town on Sunday.
Kent wicketkeeper-batsman Sam Billings has been named in England’s One-Day and T20 squads for a three-week tour to India in the new year.
After a stint playing for Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash, Billings will head to the subcontinent where England will play three ODIs and three IT20s, with the ODI opener taking place on Sunday, January 15, in Pune.
First-up are 50-over warm-ups against India A in Mumbai on January 10 and 12 with the second and third ODIs in Cuttack and Calcutta on January 19 and 22.
The opening T20 is in Kanpur on January 26 before games in Nagpur on January 29 and in Bengaluru on February 1.
Billings said: “Always a huge honour to be in an England squad, should be a great challenge in India in the new year. ”
Kent will finish their pre-season programme with a two-day friendly against Surrey at The Spitfire Ground, St Lawrence.
The sides will use the fixture, on Sunday, April 2, and Monday, April 3, to prepare for the start of the Specsavers County Championship Division 2 season that Friday.
Kent head to the Caribbean on the FGS Plant Tour next month to take part in the West Indies Regional Super50 tournament.
The players will return for pre-season in March before a three-day match against Leeds-Bradford MCCU from Tuesday, March 28.
Former England captain Charlotte Edwards has announced she is leaving Kent after 16 seasons at the club. Edwards, who is 37 this month, led Kent to the domestic double this summer.
She said: “I would like to thank everyone at Kent for all their support. I’m immensely proud to have played for the county and what the team have achieved within that time.
“It’s been a tough decision to leave Kent but ultimately I feel it’s the right decision for me and more importantly the current team.”