ENG vs IND | Warwickshire skipper Rhodes to lead ‘County Select XI’ in warm-up game against India

Warwickshire captain Willfred Rhodes will lead a 14-member Select County XI in a three-day warm-up game against India at the Riverside Side ground here from July 20-22, the England and Wales Cricket Board said on Thursday.

Former England bowler and current Young Lions (A team) head coach Richard Dawson will oversee a “Select County XI to play India at the Emirates Riverside in a three-day match, starting on Tuesday 20 July.”

In earlier years, this team was commonly called “Combined Counties” which always had a first-class fixture against the touring countries.

The match will be played behind closed doors with Indian contingent already reporting multiple COVID-19 positive cases including first team keeper Rishabh Pant.

The Select County XI squad also includes recent Test debutant James Bracey and Nottinghamshire opener Haseeb Hameed, who made his Test debut against India in 2016.

“The squad was selected after consulting with the first-class counties on player availability and to provide some of the high-potential talent from across the county game with the opportunity to test themselves against the ICC World Test Championship finalists,” ECB stated.

A short bubble is set to be created by ECB for this game after all selected players undergo COVID-19 tests.

“The county players will bridge into a team environment and undergo Covid testing before being cleared to play in the match.”

The ECB thanked first-class counties for their “continued support to make players available for this fixtures and to Durham County Cricket Club for providing facilities for this match to be staged.”

The match will be available to watch live via Durham County Cricket Club’s YouTube channel with ball-by-ball commentary also available on BBC radio.

County Select XI squad: Will Rhodes (Warwickshire – captain), Rehan Ahmed (Leicestershire), Tom Aspinwell (Lancashire), Ethan Bamber (Middlesex),  James Bracey (Gloucestershire), Jack Carson (Sussex), Zak Chappell (Nottinghamshire), Haseeb Hameed (Nottinghamshire), Lyndon James (Nottinghamshire), Jake Libby (Worcestershire), Craig Miles (Warwickshire), Liam Patterson-White (Nottinghamshire), James Rew (Somerset), Rob Yates (Warwickshire).