Keaton Jennings topped the County Championship run-charts with 1548 runs in 2016 © Getty Images
Keaton Jennings and Liam Dawson are to join the England squad as replacements for the remaining two matches of the Test series in India. Jennings, the uncapped Durham opener who is set to make his England Lions debut against United Arab Emirates in Dubai tomorrow, replaces Haseeb Hameed, whose tour was ended with a broken finger in Mohali.
Dawson, the Hampshire allrounder who was also selected for the Lions programme this winter before being released to play for Rangpur Riders in the Bangladesh Premier League, was called up to replace Zafar Ansari, who is still struggling with the back injury he sustained in the second Test in Visakhapatnam. Ansari will stay with the squad and continue to receive medical support in India before returning to England on December 8.
Jennings, 24, made his Durham debut in 2012 and was the leading run-scorer in the 2016 Specsavers County Championship season with 1548 runs at an average of 64. He has been on the Lions programme for the last month, initially at the Performance Centre in Loughborough and for the last two weeks in Dubai, based at the ICC Academy. He is due to join the England squad in Mumbai on December 5 when they begin preparations for the fourth Test which starts at Wankhede Stadium three days later.
Dawson, 26, made ODI and T20I debuts this year after impressing on last winter’s Lions programme in the UAE. He is also expected to arrive in Mumbai early next week.
It is the second year in succession that Ansari’s involvement in a tour has been in some way curtailed. He was picked for the tour of the UAE 12 months ago only to suffer a broken thumb hours after the squad announcement.
Dawson was preferred to Jack Leach despite claiming only 20 Championship wickets in 2016 at a cost of 43.85 apiece. Leach claimed 65 Championship wickets at an average of 21.87 – no England-qualified player claimed more in Division One – but his Somerset captain in 2016, Chris Rogers, suggested he had “emotionally… a bit of a way to go” before he was ready for international cricket. Dawson is the better batsman and fielder, though, and is seen as a reliable, defensive spinner. His attitude impressed the England management when he played limited-overs cricket earlier in the year.
More to follow…
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo