Yorkshire CCC all-rounder Matty Revis named in England Lions squad to tour Australia
MATTY REVIS has been rewarded for a fine season with Yorkshire by winning his maiden call-up to the England Lions.
Revis has been named in an 18-man squad that will tour Australia in November which coincides with the start of the Ashes.
The 23-year-old all-rounder is one of four uncapped Lions’ players along with Thomas Rew, the highly-rated Somerset batsman and England U19 captain, plus the Glamorgan all-rounder Ben Kellaway and his batting team-mate Asa Tribe.
The squad includes four Test-capped players in the form of Matthew Fisher, the former Yorkshire pace bowler, Rehan Ahmed, the Leicestershire all-rounder plus Josh Hull, his county pace bowling colleague, along with Tom Hartley, the Lancashire spinner. Sonny Baker, the Hampshire fast bowler, and Jordan Cox, the Essex batsman, have both been capped at one-day international level.
Revis, a product of Sedbergh School, along with Harry Brook, the England white-ball captain, and George Hill, the Yorkshire all-rounder who can consider himself very unfortunate not to make the Lions’ squad himself, had a fine season with the bat especially.
In 11 County Championship matches, Revis scored 766 runs at an average of 63.83, figures boosted by a fine run of form in the four rounds used with the Kookaburra ball, which were introduced specifically to help prepare players for Test cricket.
Revis began that sequence with 93 not out against the eventual champions Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, then struck 150 against Essex at York, 110 not out and 15 against Surrey at Scarborough, followed by 152 not out against Sussex at Scarborough.
Although he took only five wickets at just under 100, he has been working his way back from a serious stress fracture of the back and Yorkshire have carefully managed his workloads throughout the summer.
As Jonny Bairstow, the Yorkshire captain, put it after the final game of the season on Saturday (during which Revis was named the club’s members’ player of the year): “Coming off six months with his back injury, it was a torrid time for him.
“But the calmness that he's approached his batting, and how he's gone about it, I think it's been outstanding.
“If he can keep improving with his bowling, and trusting his bowling, there's definitely a lot of cricket to be played for Matty ‘Rev’.
“He's only going to get better with the bat and the ball, and I'm delighted for him to come off the back of what was a tough winter for him and come and do so well.”
The Lions will stage development camps in October at the ECB Performance Centre at Loughborough before travelling to Australia, where they will play the England Test squad in a three-day warm-up at Lilac Hill prior to the first Test in Perth on November 21.
The Lions will play a four-day game against a Cricket Australia XI at Lilac Hill during that Test, followed by a two-day match against a Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra from November 29 (styled as an England XI fixture), and then a four-day match against Australia A in Brisbane from December 5, which coincides with the second Ashes Test.
Andrew Flintoff, the Lions’ head coach, said: “There are some unbelievably talented players in this squad, and this is a fantastic opportunity for them to go to Australia, excel in the conditions, and thrive against quality players.
“At the same time, these players will get a sense of what an away Ashes series is all about.
“Our coaching staff is looking forward to working with them to embrace that opportunity and help to build the experiences and skills that will benefit their careers.”
Yorkshire also have two representatives in a 17-strong England U19s squad that will tour the Caribbean in November/December.
They are Will Bennison, the 19-year-old batsman, and Matthew Firbank, the 18 year-old pace bowler, both of whom made their first-team debuts in the One-Day Cup game against Kent at Canterbury last month.
The U19s, known as the Young Lions, will play five youth one-day internationals against West Indies and two youth one-day internationals against United States, with all matches in St Vincent.
The games serve as preparation ahead of the U19 World Cup in Namibia and Zimbabwe early next year.
England Lions squad: Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), Sonny Baker (Hampshire), Jordan Cox (Essex), Matthew Fisher (Surrey), Emilio Gay (Durham), Nathan Gilchrist (Warwickshire), Tom Hartley (Lancashire), Tom Haines (Sussex), Josh Hull (Leicestershire), Eddie Jack (Hampshire), Ben Kellaway (Glamorgan), Tom Lawes (Surrey), Ben McKinney (Durham), Matthew Revis (Yorkshire), James Rew (Somerset), Thomas Rew (Somerset), Mitchell Stanley (Lancashire), Asa Tribe (Glamorgan).
England U19s squad: Farhan Ahmed (Nottinghamshire, captain), Ralphie Albert (Surrey), Will Bennison (Yorkshire), Ben Dawkins (Kent), Caleb Falconer (Middlesex), Jamie Feldman (Middlesex), Matthew Firbank (Yorkshire), Alex French (Surrey), Alex Green (Leicestershire), Manny Lumsden (Hampshire), Ben Mayes (Hampshire), James Minto (Durham), Isaac Mohammad (Worcestershire), Sebastian Morgan (Middlesex), Joe Moores (Lancashire), Jack Nelson (Middlesex), Charlie Taylor (Warwickshire).