Toby Roland-Jones to captain England Lions against Afghanistan
Tuesday 6 December 2016 16:58, UK
Toby Roland-Jones will captain the England Lions for the first time in the four-day match with Afghanistan which begins in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
The Middlesex fast bowler takes the armband from club team-mate Nick Gubbins, who led them in the third ODI with the UAE.
Durham opener led England in the opening two ODIs, but he has been called up to the England Test team in India.
Essex batsman Tom Westley will make his first appearance for the Lions this winter, the only member of the 16-man squad not to feature so far on tour.
Coach Andy Flower said: "We have a couple of fitness concerns - Liam Livingstone was unable to come to the stadium in Abu Dhabi with us for practice because of illness, and Ollie Rayner has a sore knee," said Flower. "I know Tom will be looking for a strong performance in his first competitive chance of this section of our winter programme.
"We've combined red-ball and white-ball training in our time in Dubai, and to have this first-class game against Afghanistan is a good opportunity for the guys to show what they can do - and also for James Whitaker, the National Selector, to see them doing exactly that.
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"We're expecting Afghanistan to be competitive. They play an aggressive brand of cricket, they're a proud young cricket nation, and they've got a really good cricket story. So we're all really looking forward to this match."
The match is Afghanistan's first first-class game against any England team.
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