New Tykes skipper handed Lions honour

The 26-year-old batsman will captain the country’s second string in matches against Pakistan A, the UAE national team, and the England full team at Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

The Lions play a Twenty20 match against the UAE and England, three Twenty20 matches against Pakistan A and then three 50-over matches against Pakistan A between February 10-26.

Yorkshire duo Adil Rashid and David Wainwright have also been included in the 15- man squad, as have the likes of Ian Bell, Michael Carberry, Craig Kieswetter and ex- Headingley pair Michael Lumb and Steve Kirby.

Gale said: “I am proud to become the England Lions captain, and I am excited about the opportunities that the tour will hold for us as a team and individuals.

“The series against Pakistan A will give us an opportunity to test our skills against other international cricketers, and will be a great way to taste the international arena.”

National selector Geoff Miller said: “Obviously, Yorkshire have seen something in him.

“He’s shown us, in the performance squad, what he’s capable of doing – at Loughborough and out here in South Africa.

“He’s ticked an awful lot of boxes, and we’ve given him the opportunity. Good luck to him. It’s the real start of his international career. We’ll see how he goes.”

Gale, Rashid and Wainwright should all be available for Yorkshire’s pre-season tour of Barbados in mid- March, although there is a chance that Rashid could yet be playing in the Indian Premier League.

Miller has identified a second chance for Test batsman Bell to restate his one-day international claims – and explains why the time is not yet right for the acid test of Ravi Bopara’s rehabilitation.

The Essex batsman has been making runs in Auckland this winter, since being dropped from England’s Test and ODI teams.

He needs to make a few more, and start next summer well, before he will be back in the frame.

‘‘Ravi went away to sort himself out, get his game back together – and we thought the best way to allow him to continue was to leave it to the end of the winter, and then revisit it back in England,’’ said Miller.

‘‘We’ve kept an eye on him - and he’s been playing pretty well. We hope he’ll come back and be the force he was before he had his bad trot.’’ Miller stresses the lines of communication with the likes of Bopara are always open – because England have no interest in allowing rich talent to go unfulfilled.

‘‘It’s not a snub. He’ll know the situation – we always keep in contact to let people know just where they stand with us,’’ he said.

‘‘We don’t want to lose the talent of Ravi Bopara – and we think this is the best way for him to come back refreshed.’’ Miller baulks at suggestions Bell has been relegated to a second string.

‘‘This is not the reserve team at all,’’ he said.

‘‘It is the Lions team, the side we pick to broaden our squad.

‘‘He’s not been involved in our one-day squad for a while.

But we still feel he’s a quality player (in this format), and this is Ian’s chance to fight for his one-day place back again.’’ England Lions squad to tour UAE from Feb 10-26: AW Gale (captain, Yorkshire), IR Bell (Warwickshire), MA Carberry (Hampshire), MJ Lumb (Hampshire), JWA Taylor (Leicestershire), C Kieswetter (wkt, Somerset), SM Davies (wkt, Surrey), PD Trego (Somerset), JC Tredwell (Kent), AU Rashid (Yorkshire), SI Mahmood (Lancashire), CR Woakes (Warwickshire), ST Finn (Middlesex), SP Kirby (Gloucestershire), DJ Wainwright (Yorkshire).