England Lions

Burns(2018) Pope (2018), Stoneman(2017), Jennings(2016), Gubbins(2016), Hameed(2016), Duckett(2016) and Hameed(2016).

These were the standout English batsmen of the last 3 county seasons. None had been on an overseas Lions tour to that point.

Dan Lawrence, Joe Clarke, Keaton Jennings, Nick Gubbins, Haseeb Hameed, Liam Livingstone, Alex Davies, Ben Foakes, Ben Duckett and Sam Northeast.

These were the batsman used last winter by the England Lions in four day games. It what was admittedly a tough season for batsmen, none of these advanced their claims in the 2018 county season season. Keaton Jennings did well at county level before again struggling at test level. Jennings aside who averaged 47.26, the rest couldn’t better Ben Foakes who averaged 36.7, some like Lawrence, Livingstone and in particular Hameed had retched seasons.

Saqib Mahmood, Richard Gleeson, Toby Roland Jones, Jamie Porter, Paul Coughlin, Jack Leach, Dom Bess, Mason Crane, Sam Curran*, Matt Parkinson*.

These were the main bowlers used by England lions over the winter of 2017/2018. Of those Mahmood, Roland-Jones, Coughlin and Crane either didn’t play or barely played all 2018 season due to injury. Gleeson, Porter, Leach and Bess had reasonable seasons but not upto previous best seasons.

Tom Helm and George Garton made the Australia training camp but never reached the West Indies due to injury, and both had shocking 2018 seasons.

Newcomers (and relative newcomers) to the squad for England’s winter tours have been Rory Burns, Sam Curran, Joe Denly, Ollie Pope and Olly Stone. Only Curran played any part in last winters lions tour and his part was small, playing the ODIs on the West Indies tour. The rest played grade cricket in Australia for parts of the winter (Stone, Pope); prepared for the season and captaincy at home (Burns); or travelled the world playing T20 leagues and for Kent in the West Indies domestic 50 over competition (Denly).

You might ask is it better to miss the Lions winter tours if you are a potential England player?

The Lions in recent years have had two tours. A pre christmas preparation tour, and a main tour after christmas. This winter there are two proper tours, to the UAE to play Pakistan before Christmas, and to India after Christmas. A Lions player will come straight out of a gruelling 6 month county season, maybe have a break for two or three weeks, and then will be straight back into training and fitness at Loughborough in preparation for a month or so long tour - last years training camp lasted a month in Australia from November 14 to December 17. After a break for Christmas they’ll be right back into it, normally with a full tour - to the West Indies they went in early 2018 for a 7 week playing tour returning on March 12. For those who are included the whole time it’s a long winter after a long summer. You may say that the England players have similar schedules and it’s true they are on the road more than the lions players through the winter, but they are also looked after. The England players have central contracts and often rested from international and domestic games. Those Lions who are involved the whole winter have little more than a months rest a year and go into the season lacking a decent pre season.

There is no doubt in my mind that Lions overseas tours are a good idea in theory. It gives potential England players experience of playing in foreign conditions against different types of players. It allows these players to work with some of the better coaches in the English game to try and better prepare them for the international game. County cricket isn’t always the best preparation for the international game; Darren Stevens averaging sub 20 with the ball, or the complete lack of spinners in 4 day cricket hardly point to the best preparation for facing Ashwin and Jadeja in India, or Starc and Cummins in Australia.

A modern concern is what happens to these young players if they don’t play lions over the winter. Two of this winter's Lions, Tom Kohler Cadmore and Liam Livingstone, were lining up deals in 20 and 10 over tournaments this winter before the lions callup came. The pull of the $$$ for a young player is heavy now with player agents heavily involved and for many the IPL is towards the top of their targets. As one of England’s brightest young prospects, Harry Brook says ‘I got a few thirties and forties, but they don’t get you the wins, the big money and the next game.’

There may be other reasons why Lions players are struggling the year after. It may be that the coaching right now isn’t great and/or the player are taking advice from too many people on their game.. It may just be a case of a bad couple of years. It should also be said that the non lions players (Pope, Duckett, Hameed, Malan, etc) who have gone onto play for England straight away have generally failed in recent years .

Undoubtedly there are a myriad of reasons for the lack of form of lions players over the last few years - I do believe that workload is a definite issue that needs to be addressed. I personally would suggest one long tour (maybe 2 months over November and December) over the winter made up of 4 day games and maybe 50 over games. There is no need for Lions T20 cricket - there is plenty of short form cricket to be found at home and away throughout the year for those wanting it. In this age it’s the 4 day stuff that needs a proper nurturing. More and more in county cricket with the advent of T20 cricket and the substandard wickets you find batsman who are unwilling to grind and will always take the aggressive option. A lot of players simply don’t have a solid defensive game. Medium pace bowlers feast on green wickets, whilst the genuinely quick bowlers tend to struggle to maintain fitness over the course of a season. After Christmas players would return to the counties to work further on their game and prepare for the season ahead. This consolidated tour should benefit the ECB’s finance department which is looking to cut costs in the lead upto the hundred, and in all likelihood will please the counties who get their players back after christmas.