Rocky Flintoff has been called up to his father’s Lions squad for next month’s tour of Australia, with England using the trip to give young bowlers who are already in contention for a place in the senior Test squad experience of local conditions before next winter’s Ashes.
The junior Flintoff continues what has been a startling rise, having been given his first professional contract by Lancashire in August, aged 16. He made his first-class debut soon afterwards and was a last-minute call-up to the Lions squad in South Africa this month, their first trip since his father, Andrew, was named coach in September.
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England men’s Lions squad for Australia tour
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Sonny Baker (Hampshire), Shoaib Bashir (Somerset), Pat Brown (Derbyshire), James Coles (Sussex), Sam Cook (Essex), Alex Davies (Warwickshire), Rocky Flintoff (Lancashire), Tom Hartley (Lancashire), Tom Lawes (Surrey), Freddie McCann (Nottinghamshire), Ben McKinney (Durham), James Rew (Somerset), Hamza Shaikh (Warwickshire), Mitch Stanley (Lancashire), Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire), John Turner (Hampshire).
Shoaib Bashir, the Somerset 21-year-old who has established himself as England’s first-choice spinner and played in 15 of their past 16 Tests, has also been included. While none of the Lions’ three fixtures – culminating in an unofficial Test against Australia A – will be on grounds used for the Ashes the trip will allow him to play in Brisbane and Sydney while spending a month under the tutelage of Graeme Swann, who travels as spin bowling coach. He will be joined by the Lancashire spinner Tom Hartley, who played all five Tests in India last winter but has not been picked since.
“For Bash, the opportunity to be able to get some experience in those conditions could be really vital for us,” Brendon McCullum, England’s Test coach, said in October. “That’s the beauty of the Lions programme, you have the opportunity to get some cricket into guys. With Freddie there as well now and in charge of the Lions, he’s got a very similar view on the game to what I’ve got, so there’ll be consistency of message and that’s something that we’ve got to look at.”
Josh Tongue, Nottinghamshire’s injury-plagued seamer, will play his first competitive games on the tour since sustaining a pectoral injury in August 2023. Tongue impressed in Test outings against Ireland and Australia that summer but has struggled to recover from the injury and a subsequent hamstring problem. He was involved in the trip to South Africa, but did not play.
Other seamers with Test ambitions include Essex’s Sam Cook and Hampshire’s John Turner, who has played for England in both white-ball formats and was given a development contract by the ECB in October. Josh Hull, the 20-year-old Leicestershire seamer who made his Test debut against Sri Lanka in September, is not in the squad but will travel as he continues his rehabilitation from a quad injury.