Onions given Lions chance

Apr 30 2008 by Luke Edwards, The Journal

GRAHAM Onions will miss Durham’s mouth-watering Championship clash with Lancashire next week as he has been called up by the England Lions to take on New Zealand.

Onions, who played for the Lions in India over the winter, has begun the season well, taking five wickets in the drawn match with Surrey last week. The Gateshead fast bowler has also attracted praise from former England captains Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton, even though he was surprisingly left out of the England Performance Squad last month.

However, although his fellow discarded Test bowler Matthew Hoggard will play for the Lions at the Rose Bowl, it seems the England selectors are happy to let Steve Harmison continue his rehabilitation at county level.

The 29-year-old, who was dropped by England for the first time over the winter, will be in the Durham side which takes on Lancashire – who will be able to name England players Freddie Flintoff and James Anderson in their XI – at Old Trafford next Wednesday.

He will be joined by England one-day captain Paul Collingwood who will play his first – and probably last – Championship game of the season for Durham because of his international commitments.

Collingwood’s availability could not come at a better time for Durham coach Geoff Cook who has given captain Dale Benkenstein permission to return to South Africa next week to be at the birth of his third child.

As well as Hoggard, Sussex wicket-keeper Matt Prior, who also lost his place in the Test side over the winter, has also been named in the Lions side which would suggest Durham glove man, Phil Mustard, is not in the selector’s thinking for the Test series against the Kiwis, which begins next month.

“In choosing this squad we were keen to show consistency by giving further opportunities to players who were involved with either the Test or one-day squad during the winter or the England Lions,” said national selector Geoff Miller. “There is intense competition for places in the senior squad at present and all of these players will be keen to make an impression on the selectors ahead of the international season.”

Miller added: “Matthew Hoggard was left out of the last two Test matches in New Zealand but he is a fighter and he will not want to give up his England place easily.

“He has started the season with a strong performance for Yorkshire and this will be another chance for him to show what he is capable of against an international side.”

Lancashire begin a three-day game against Durham University at the city’s Racecourse ground today, but England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff is not in the party.

ENGLAND LIONS SQUAD: Robert Key (captain, Kent), Michael Carberry (Hampshire), Ravi Bopara (Essex), Owais Shah (Middlesex), Matt Prior (wicketkeeper, Sussex), Adil Rashid (Yorkshire), Luke Wright (Sussex), Graeme Swann (Nottinghamshire), Chris Tremlett (Hampshire), Matthew Hoggard (Yorkshire), Steve Kirby (Gloucestershire), Graham Onions (Durham).