India A will be a good test - Smith

The visit of India A provides some of Leicestershire CCC’s exciting young talent the chance to test themselves on the world stage.

That is the view of Second XI Coach Tom Smith, who is overseeing the visit of Rahul Dravid’s side at the Fischer County Ground tomorrow (11am start).

“It will be a good test for our young players and we are naming as strong a side as possible,” said Smith.

“The game will give people an opportunity to showcase their skills against international opposition and stake their claim ahead of the forthcoming Vitality Blast competition.

“We have had some terrific individual performances in the Second XI this season, not least Harry Swindells, who scored 142 and 70 in the three-day game against Kent last week.

“I’ve been in constant communication with Nico [Paul Nixon], who came to watch the Second XI on several occasions at Loughborough Town CC last week.

“We have balanced selection given our lengthy injury list and the fact that the First XI has back-to-back Specsavers County Championship matches coming up.”

Leicestershire CCC’s squad to face India A is therefore a mix of senior professionals and young players who have caught the eye in the Second XI. The team has started the season well, being unbeaten in red ball cricket and competitive in 50-over games.

Tom Wells, Richard Jones, Ateeq Javid, Harry Swindells, Harry Dearden and Aadil Ali, who were involved in the last Royal London One-Day Cup game against Durham, are in the 12-man squad. Sam Evans is also back from Loughborough MCCU duty, where he scored a brilliant double-century against Leeds-Bradford MCCU last week.

Among the Academy players on duty is all-rounder Ben Mike, who recently played for the First XI against Pakistan, and James Dickinson. The leg-spinner was previously captain of Scotland under 19s and has been a regular in the Second XI this season.

Off-spinning all-rounder Don Butchart is included alongside young seam bowlers Jacob Bailey and Harry Funnell.

Smith said: “It has also been brilliant to see so many of our Academy players coming into the Second XI and doing well, and Ben Mike has already had an opportunity in the First XI against Pakistan. He bowled well against a strong batting line-up.

“This game is a cracking chance for some of those young players to experience a game against a high-class opposition in India A. It will be a great challenge for them.

“We’ve all seen some of the India A players performing well in the Indian Premier League, so we’ll need to have solid plans and execute them well.”

Leicestershire CCC has a number of injuries ahead of the India A game, with Colin Ackermann (finger), Mark Cosgrove (thumb), Ned Eckersley (finger), Rob Sayer (hamstring), Tom Taylor (ankle), Dieter Klein (side) and Zak Chappell (shoulder) not involved. Neil Dexter and Ben Raine are also resting niggles ahead of Wednesday's Specsavers County Championship visit of Middlesex.

India A, who had a good victory against an ECB Select XI at Headingley yesterday, are coached by Dravid, the batsman who scored 24,208 international runs in his outstanding career.

The tourists have a number of exciting players that caught the eye in the Indian Premier League this year, including Rishabh Pant, the second leading scorer in the tournament with 684 runs at 52.61 (strike rate of 173.60).

Sanju Samson and captain Shreyas Iyer were also in the 20 highest run-scorers this year while Prithvi Shaw and Shubman Gill are very highly rated.

On the bowling front, seamer Shardul Thakur and left arm spinner Krunal Pandya, who took 16 and 12 wickets respectively in the IPL, are part of a 16-man touring party for List A cricket alongside Axar Patel, the all-rounder who will be joining Durham CCC later in the season.

Leicestershire Foxes (from 12): Aadil, Bailey, Butchart, Dearden, Dickinson, Evans, Funnell, Javid, Jones, Mike, Swindells, Wells.

NB – The Second XI is in T20 action today against MCC Young Cricketers at Merchant Taylors’ School, so the squad is subject to change.

India A (from): Shreyas Iyer, Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill, Hanuma Vihari, Sanju Samson, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant, Vijay Shankar, K. Gowtham, Axar Patel, Krunal Pandya, Prasidh Krishna, Deepak Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Shardul Thakur.

* Don’t miss a ball in 2018! Tickets to all of the international games at the Fischer County Ground in 2018 are available through the website HERE