Sayer to learn from Patel

Rob Sayer will benefit from the expertise and experience of fellow off-spinner Jeetan Patel as part of the ECB’s Overseas Placements for 2016-17.

Sayer is one of nine players - five spinners and four batsmen - who have been selected for Overseas Placements, in either Perth, Sydney, Adelaide or Wellington, where the emphasis will be on developing their independence as well as their cricketing skills.

Sayer and Nottinghamshire off-spinner Matthew Carter will work closely with Patel, who has had another outstanding season with Warwickshire, including helping them to win the Royal London One-Day Cup Final on Saturday.

Leg-spinners Mason Crane (Hampshire) and Matthew Critchley (Derbyshire) will gain expertise from Australia’s Stuart MacGill in Sydney while Somerset’s Dominic Bess will spend time in Adelaide.

Four batsmen will learn from the renowned Western Australia batting coach Neil “Noddy” Holder in Perth, including Tom Abell (Somerset), Aneurin Donald (Glamorgan), Dan Lawrence (Essex) and Tom Moores (Nottinghamshire).

Overall, more than 50 players between the ages of 17 and 30 have been selected for involvement in the four components of the men’s International Pathway this winter – the Lions, the Young Lions, the Pace Programme, and Overseas Placements.

It means that all 18 first-class counties will have players abroad either with England or on the Pathway, spread around four continents.

Andy Flower will lead an 18-man squad on a Lions training camp in Dubai in November and December, including three 50-over matches for England Lions against the United Arab Emirates at the ICC Academy and a three-day match against Afghanistan in Sharjah.

The England selectors have named a squad including two players who have featured in senior international cricket this summer and will be in the senior England squad for the one-day series in Bangladesh – Hampshire all-rounder Liam Dawson, and Nottinghamshire fast bowler Jake Ball.

The Lions will be joined in Dubai in December by the Young Lions, a 17-strong squad of players who will be led by Andy Hurry, and who are all eligible for the England Under-19s tour of India in the New Year.

In addition, five young fast bowlers between the ages of 19 and 23 have been selected for the Pace Programme, under which they will combine training with their counties and at the National Cricket Performance Centre, Loughborough before Christmas, and then travel to the High Performance Institute of Sport in Potchefstroom for warm-weather altitude training in the New Year.

David Parsons, the ECB’s Performance Director who leads the men’s International Pathway, said: “We hope that bringing all aspects of the International Pathway together in this form will help to show the range of ways in which the ECB is working with the first-class counties to prepare players for international cricket.

“Our relationships with the counties are stronger and more collaborative than ever, and it is in these winter months that we can really offer additional value to the players, investing in their development by giving them high-quality cricketing experiences overseas – helping to bridge the gap to international cricket.”

For further explanation and full details of this winter’s International Pathway programmes, please see ecb.co.uk.

Lions: Nick Gubbins (Middlesex), Keaton Jennings (Durham), Tom Alsop (Hampshire), Daniel Bell-Drummond (Kent), Tom Westley (Essex), Joe Clarke (Worcestershire), Liam Livingstone (Lancashire), Ben Foakes (Surrey), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Ollie Rayner (Middlesex), Jack Leach (Somerset), Sam Curran (Surrey), Tom Curran (Surrey), Toby Roland-Jones (Middlesex), Jake Ball (Nottinghamshire), James Fuller (Middlesex), Craig Overton (Somerset), Stuart Meaker (Surrey).

*Tom Helm (Middlesex), Matt Parkinson (Lancashire) and Josh Poysden (Warwickshire) have been invited to join the Lions camp in Dubai.

Young Lions: Max Holden (Middlesex), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), George Bartlett (Somerset), Josh Dell (Worcestershire), Tom Banton (Somerset), Ben Green (Somerset), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Delray Rawlins (Sussex), Amar Virdi (Surrey), Josh Coughlin (Durham), Will Jacks (Surrey), Euan Woods (Surrey), Liam Banks (Warwickshire), Aaron Beard (Essex), George Panayi (Warwickshire), Jack Blatherwick (Nottinghamshire), George Scrimshaw (Worcestershire).

Pace Programme (to train at counties / Loughborough in 2016, then warm-weather camp at Potchefstroom in January 2017): Paul Coughlin (Durham), George Garton (Sussex), Tom Helm (Middlesex), Saqib Mahmood (Lancashire), Matt Taylor (Gloucestershire).

*Reece Topley (Hampshire) and Jamie Overton (Somerset) may also join the Pace Programme in Potchefstroom as part of their return from injury.

Overseas Placements: Matthew Carter (Nottinghamshire) and Rob Sayer (Leicestershire) - Wellington; Mason Crane (Hampshire) and Matt Critchley (Derbyshire) - Sydney; Dominic Bess (Somerset) - Adelaide; Tom Abell (Somerset), Aneurin Donald (Glamorgan), Dan Lawrence (Essex) and Tom Moores (Nottinghamshire) - Perth.