The majority of England’s one-day squad will rejoin their counties for another week of Royal London One-Day Cup cricket after the Royal London One-Day Internationals against Ireland this weekend.
That sets up some potentially intriguing battles, with Mark Wood due to face Alex Hales, Stuart Broad and Jake Ball in the televised match between Notts Outlaws and Durham at Trent Bridge next Wednesday – and Moeen Ali in line to face his former club Warwickshire when the holders make the short trip to New Road to play Worcestershire Rapids on Friday May 12.
Steven Finn and Ben Duckett, who have both been selected for the Ireland matches, will be available for all of their counties’ matches after May 8 – meaning Finn can play in Middlesex’s last three Royal London group games against Glamorgan, Essex Eagles and Somerset, and Duckett for the Northants Steelbacks against Yorkshire, Leicestershire Foxes and Notts Outlaws.
Yorkshire Vikings, who have made a flying start to their bid to qualify from the North Group with consecutive wins against Notts Outlaws and Lancashire Lightning, will again have Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Adil Rashid available for tomorrow’s home game against Durham – when seamers Liam Plunkett and David Willey, as well as Wood, have been advised to rest ahead of England’s first game against Ireland in Bristol on Friday.
But Plunkett, Willey, Root, Bairstow and Rashid are all due to be available for Yorkshire’s games at Northampton on May 10 and Edgbaston on May 14.
Jason Roy is set to give Surrey’s bid to qualify from the South Group a big boost by playing in their home games against Kent Spitfires on May 12 and Hampshire on May 14, after returning from the Indian Premier League.
They will also be available for the next block of Specsavers County Championship fixtures which begins on Thursday May 26 and runs until the first full round of day-night fixtures from June 26-29, broken only by the Royal London One-Day Cup play-offs and semi-finals from June 13-17.
Other England players who have not been selected in the squad for the ICC Champions Trophy, such as Broad, Jimmy Anderson, Alastair Cook, Haseeb Hameed, Keaton Jennings and Gary Ballance, will also be available for the majority of that period – and the plan is for all of the Test squad to play in the day-night round, allowing them to gain experience of the pink Dukes balls that will be used for the historic day-night Investec Test against West Indies at Edgbaston from August 17-21.
That means Broad is available for four more Division Two fixtures for the early-season promotion pacesetters Nottinghamshire including their game against Glamorgan; Cook for up to five more Division One fixtures for Essex including their home day-night match against the champions Middlesex; and Anderson for four more Division One games alongside Hameed for Lancashire including home and away Roses Matches against Ballance’s Yorkshire.
Andrew Strauss, the director, England cricket, said: “This was always going to be a difficult summer in terms of managing the workload on our England players, with such a hectic schedule including the Champions Trophy as well as seven Tests, followed by an equally busy winter in Australia and New Zealand.
“We also have Lions matches against South Africa and South Africa A as part of the reciprocal arrangements which allow our future England players to gain valuable experience overseas in the winter.
“We appreciate all of this causes disruption for counties and frustration for their supporters, and we are grateful to them for seeing the big picture in appreciating the need for us to ensure that key players remain in the best possible condition for the challenges ahead.
“All these decisions are taken after consultation with the players, and I know they will be pleased to have the opportunity to play in some important Royal London One-Day Cup matches next week, and then in the Specsavers County Championship later in May and June.”