Flower expecting Lions to stake their claims

South Africa-born Kieswetter has long been identified as an international player in the making and was fast-tracked into the Lions' set-up before his England qualification period was complete.

His eligibility is expected to be formalised today and he gets a chance to impress Flower just a day later as the reserve side under Yorkshire's Andrew Gale are pitted against their colleagues in Abu Dhabi tomorrow.

Flower has already been impressed by the Somerset wicketkeeper-batsman, who has made 31, 40 not out and 77 not out in wins over Pakistan A and UAE A.

Team director Flower believes he will be one of a number of players looking to make an impression before England's party for the Caribbean tournament is finalised.

"Craig Kieswetter has had a really good start," said Flower. "He's got runs in all three of his (Lions) games so far, so Wednesday is a chance for him to impress.

"I think he qualifies (today) for England and, of course, he'll be excited about that challenge.

"All of the Lions are under consideration and, quite rightly, they'll be very hungry to press forward their case for selection.

"I've spoken to David Parsons, who is in charge of that group, and it's been nice to see them play such powerful cricket.

"It is a good opportunity for them to impress, a good opportunity for them to challenge us so they'll all be quite excited.

"It's our first game of the tour so they'll be a little more battle-hardened considering they've already played three competitive games."

Kevin Pietersen is one player who is sure to feature in the West Indies and Flower has backed the batsman to return to his brutish best.

England have back-to-back Twenty20 fixtures against world champions Pakistan after their Lions date, followed by a Test and one-day international tour of Bangladesh.