CRICKET
England call teenage batsman Hameed for Bangladesh tour
Opening batsman Haseeb Hameed was included in the England Test squad for the tour of Bangladesh which was announced on Friday.
Opening batsman Haseeb Hameed was included in the England Test squad for the tour of Bangladesh and Northamptonshire’s Ben Duckett and Surrey’s Zafar Ansari have also been included in the squad which was announced on Friday.
The uncapped 19-year-old Lancashire star was selected after a successful season and following the decision of current England opener Alex Hales to rule himself out of the tour due to security fears.
“Haseeb Hameed, for someone so young, has had an impressive season in the County Championship with Lancashire”, England national selector James Whitaker said on Friday. “He has been a consistent performer and his four centuries, against some of the best bowling attacks in the country are testament to his outstanding temperament and attitude”.
Yorkshire batsman Joe Root, an England mainstay in all three international formats, will be rested for the three one-day internationals, which begin on 7 October, before joining the Test squad. Ben Duckett, another uncapped batsman, has also been included following a prolific season.
Whitaker added: “Throughout the campaign, he has scored heavily for Northamptonshire in first-class cricket including two double hundreds. His 220 not out for the England Lions in a 50-over game against Sri Lanka A earlier this summer was very special”.
Meanwhile Surrey captain Gareth Batty, whose last Test match came in 2005, has been recalled at the age of 38, together with fellow Surrey spinner Zafar Ansari. The pair's selection alongside Moeen Ali and Adi Rashid, means England will have a quartet of slow bowlers to chose from on wickets expected to aid spinners.
“Zafar has great potential both with bat and ball and Gareth's experience as one of the country's best slow bowlers and his ability to be effective in subcontinent conditions will be beneficial this winter”, Whitaker said.
Alastair Cook, England's Test captain, is set to travel to Bangladesh a week ahead of the Test party to work on his skills before returning home for the birth of his second child. The left-handed opener will miss the two two-day warm-up matches, scheduled to start on 14 and 16 October before returning to Bangladesh to lead the team in the first Test in Chittagong commencing on Thursday 20 October.
The Bangladesh tour, which begins on 30 September and will include two Tests and three ODIs, had been called into question after an attack on a cafe in Dhaka in July which saw 20 hostages killed, including 18 foreigners. Following the attack, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) sent a fact-finding delegation to Bangladesh led by Reg Dickason, their security officer. Dickason said it was safe to tour but that was not enough to persuade Hales and England one-day captain Eoin Morgan to travel to Bangladesh.
England Test squad:
Alastair Cook (Essex, capt), Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), James Anderson (Lancashire), Zafar Ansari (Surrey, Jonny Bairstow (Yorkshire, wkt), Gary Ballance (Yorkshire), Gareth Batty (Surrey),Stuart Broa(Nottinghamshire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire, wkt)Ben Duckett (Northamptonshire),Steven Finn (Middlesex), Haseeb Hameed (Lancashire), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire, Mark Wood (Durham)