Stoneman, Vince will play county games
Mark Stoneman and James Vince have been made available for the start of the Specsavers County Championship season after failing to cement their England spots this winter.
Neither Stoneman nor Vince were able to make significant contributions with the bat in the Ashes or the recently-concluded Test series in New Zealand and their places in the line-up have come under scrutiny.
Many of their Test colleagues have been afforded a period of rest by the England and Wales Cricket Board for the start of the championship campaign after an arduous past few months.
But Stoneman and Vince could be thrust into action for Surrey and Hampshire respectively from the getgo, and they will be bidding to strengthen their claims for England retention in the coming weeks.
Hampshire begin their season against Worcestershire on April 13 before travelling to Surrey, who open their campaign against the southcoast club a week later.
Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow, whose workloads have been among the heaviest in England’s contingent this winter, will be absent for Yorkshire’s first three championship fixtures against Essex, Nottinghamshire and Somerset this month.
However, England’s Test captain Root and wicketkeeper-batsman Bairstow will return for the Essex and Surrey games next month before reporting for England duty ahead of the first Test of the summer against Pakistan.
Root and Bairstow went unsold at the Indian Premier League auction but a number of their England team-mates have been selected for the franchise competition which gets under way this weekend.
The likes of Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali have been given the ECB’s blessing to appear in the tournament but, if selected for the first Test against Pakistan, they must return by May 17 - one week before the Lord’s Test gets under way.
James Anderson will undergo a medical before a decision is made on his availability for Lancashire, while fellow Test specialists Stuart Broad and Alastair Cook, as well as Dawid Malan, will be absent for the first two matches of the championship season.
England’s limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan was overlooked for the IPL and has intimated he would like to play first-class cricket for Middlesex for the first time in three years.
The ECB confirmed he would be available for the start of the season.