Plenty of England interest in Sky Live Championship game
Sunday 1 May 2016 15:02, UK
Joe Root is the star attraction in Sky Sports' first live county action of the summer.
The England batsman returns to Yorkshire's team for the first time in 2016 for the County Championship encounter with Nottinghamshire, live on Sky Sports 2 from 10.30am on Sunday.
Root is looking to build on another sensational few months for England, which saw him finish as their top run-scorer at the World T20, with 249 runs across his six innings at a strike-rate of 146.47, including a staggering 83 from 44 balls in a record run chase of 230 against South Africa.
Root's attention now returns to the longer format ahead of another busy Test summer, England's first Test against Sri Lanka getting underway at Headingley on Thursday, May 19.
But he isn't the only one who will be using Sunday's game at Trent Bridge as ideal preparation for that first Test - Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad and Alex Hales are also set to feature.
Bairstow has again been in fine form for Yorkshire following an outstanding 2015 that saw him recalled to the Test team, striking a career-best first class score of 246 against Hampshire.
In the opposing dressing-room, Hales, like Root, sees his first county cricket action of the summer having been granted an extended break, while Broad will be hoping for a greater impact than just the three wickets he managed in Notts' defeat to Lancashire.
Looking to oust Hales as England opener is Yorkshire's Adam Lyth, who, too, hit a hundred against Hampshire - he held Hales' spot this time last year, but lost it after a tough Ashes series which saw him average only 12.77.
Lyth's Headingley team-mate Gary Ballance is another looking to earn back a place for England, hoping to perhaps fill in at number five in the order, the spot vacated by James Taylor after his cricketing career was cut short when diagnosed with a rare heart condition.
Ryan Sidebottom is another former England international who could feature, although the 38-year-old's international career is well behind him, and he left the field with hamstring trouble when into only his sixth over of Yorkshire's tussle with Warwickshire this week.
If Sidebottom fails to prove his fitness in time for Sunday, it could mean a first Yorkshire start for fellow left-arm-seamer David Willey, an arrival from Northamptonshire during the close season.
Willey is one of a possible five England World T20 squad members who could play, with Root, Hales, Adil Rashid and Liam Plunkett - who also spanked an 82-ball hundred against Hampshire - the others.
Further English interest is provided by Notts men Michael Lumb, Samit Patel, Chris Read and Harry Gurney, while outside bets for a first international call-up are Yorkshire seamer Jack Brooks and Nottinghamshire pacer Jake Ball.
Watch all above the above in action in what is set to be a thrilling County Championship clash between Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire. Live coverage starts on Sky Sports 2 from 10.30am on Sunday.
