Toby Roland-Jones has been called into Paul Farbrace’s South squad for the first North-South Series in Dubai and Abu Dhabi next month, where he'll join fellow Middlesex teammates Steven Finn and Dawid Malan, who were both named by the ECB in the original squad.
The Middlesex all-rounder replaces Kent’s Matt Coles, who was one of the eight players to earn automatic selection through their performances in the 2016 Royal London One-Day Cup – but who suffered a toe injury on the Spitfires’ recent trip to Antigua to play in the West Indies domestic 50-over competition.
Roland-Jones was also riding high in the MVP Rankings supported by the Professional Cricketers’ Association at the end of the group stage of the Royal London One-Day Cup.
He is currently in Sri Lanka with England Lions, scoring 82 and taking four wickets in the first innings of their victory in the first four-day match against Sri Lanka A in Kandy.
He will join fellow Lions Tom Alsop, Daniel Bell-Drummond, Ben Foakes and Tom Curran in the South squad, with Keaton Jennings to lead a North team including five other members of the Lions squad for the five-match one-day series against Sri Lanka A - Ben Duckett, Joe Clarke, Liam Livingstone, Josh Poysden and Graeme White.
Farbrace, the England assistant coach, will be Head Coach for the South, with England’s fast-bowling coach Ottis Gibson Head Coach of the North.
North-South Series – March 17, 19 (both Dubai International Cricket Stadium), March 21 (Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi).
Squads
North: K Jennings (Durham, capt), B Duckett (Northamptonshire Steelbacks*), S Hain (Warwickshire), J Clarke (Worcestershire Rapids, wk), L Livingstone (Lancashire Lightning), J Leaning (Yorkshire Vikings), T Bresnan (Yorkshire Vikings*), J Poysden (Warwickshire), G White (Northamptonshire Steelbacks*), M Wood (Durham), S Mahmood (Lancashire Lightning), R Gleeson (Northamptonshire Steelbacks), H Gurney (Notts Outlaws*).
South: J Vince (Hampshire, capt), D Bell-Drummond (Kent Spitfires), T Alsop (Hampshire), D Malan (Middlesex), S Northeast (Kent Spitfires), L Dawson (Hampshire*), B Foakes (Surrey, wk), T Curran (Surrey), L Gregory (Somerset*), T Groenewald (Somerset*), T Roland-Jones (Middlesex), S Finn (Middlesex), M Crane (Hampshire).
* - automatic selection through position in Professional Cricketers’ Association’s Most Valuable Player rankings for the 2016 Royal London One-Day Cup
