Thomas Rew has been named England Lions captain at 18, in the same week he received his first senior call-up and a central contract. It is thought he will become the youngest captain in Lions history when he leads the side in three T20s against West Indies A in St Kitts and Nevis in November.
Rew’s squad includes his older brother, James. Earlier this week Thomas was given an England developmental deal and named in a full England squad for the first time, for the T20 series in Australia. He turns 19 on 29 November.
Three players will be part of the Lions tour and then travel on to Australia: Rew, Hampshire seamer Eddie Jack and Sussex all-rounder James Coles.
A fast rise for the Somerset keeper
The wicketkeeper-batter captained England Under-19s to the final of this year’s World Cup, then scored his first two first-class hundreds for Somerset over the summer. If he plays on the senior tour of Australia, he would be the third-youngest man to make his England debut in any format, after Rehan Ahmed and Brian Close. He would also be the youngest man to play for England against Australia.
Hampshire seamer Scott Currie is also in the T20 squad. Born in Poole, he played three one-day internationals for Scotland in 2014, and his brother Brad has 39 caps for the Scots. Currie was called into England’s squad for a T20 series in Ireland last year. He did not play, but was named as an England substitute fielder in Dublin and was subsequently barred from reverting to Scotland at this year’s T20 World Cup.
The T20 squad is: Thomas Rew (captain), Rehan Ahmed, Scott Currie, Adam Finch, Calvin Harrison, Jack Haynes, Eddie Jack, Ben Mayes, Ben McKinney, Liam Patterson-White, James Rew, Naavya Sharma, Ekansh Singh and Asa Tribe.
Lawrence leads the one-day side
The T20s are followed by five one-day matches against West Indies A. Test batter Dan Lawrence captains that squad, and seamer Sam Cook is also included. Both are using the tour as preparation for England’s three Tests in South Africa in December.
Former England batter Jonathan Trott is in charge of the Lions’ winter tours following the departure of head coach Andrew Flintoff.
Source: BBC Sport
