Former South African Wicketkeeper England Prospect
Former South African under-19 international Craig Kieswetter has been called up to the England Performance Programme(EPP) though he is not England-qualified until February.
The wicketkeeper and hard-hitting opening batsman first joined Somerset County Cricket Club in 2006 and has been touted as a future fixture in the senior side.
He has been named as a ‘Category B’ squad member, denoting players with first-class experience who have the potential for the England team with one to three years’ progress.
The 21-year-old will work with the EPP for eight weeks in Loughborough and South Africa in the lead up to Christmas.
Kieswetter is the latest in a long line of stumpers trialled by England, including current gloveman Matt Prior, in what has become a thorny selection issue.
Prior’s former Sussex understudy Tim Ambrose, James Foster of Essex and Surrey’s new acquisition Steven Davies, not to mention Ashes 2005-winner Geraint Jones, have all been flavour of the month at one stage or another.
Kieswetter’s fine ball-striking, improved glovework and growing maturity with bat in hand have seen him earmarked for the full squad however, scoring 1,242 runs in the 2009 season at 59.14.
England Performance Programme Players below.
Category A (players perceived closest to the England team who have been part of the programme and Lions set-up in recent years):
Mark Davies (Durham), Amjad Khan (Kent), Stephen Moore (Lancashire), Michael Carberry (Hampshire).
Category B (excluding Kieswetter):
Steven Finn (Middlesex), Andrew Gale (Yorkshire), Rory Hamilton-Brown (Sussex), Chris Jordan (Surrey), Chris Nash (Sussex), Joe Sayers (Yorkshire), Ajmal Shahzad (Yorkshire), James Taylor (Leicestershire), David Wainwright (Yorkshire), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire).
Category C (younger players with less first-class experience, many have been part of the ECB elite player development programme):
Jonathan Bairstow (Yorkshire), Vikram Banerjee (Gloucestershire), Keith Barker (Warwickshire), William Beer (Sussex), Alex Blake (Kent), Andy Carter (Nottinghamshire), Liam Dawson (Hampshire), Luke Fletcher (Nottinghamshire), Billy Godleman (Essex), Alex Hales (Nottinghamshire), Richard Johnson (Warwickshire), Richard Jones (Worcestershire), Adam Lyth (Yorkshire), Jake Mickleburgh (Essex), Sam Northeast (Kent), Ollie Rayner (Sussex), Ian Saxelby (Gloucestershire), John Simpson (Middlesex), Tom Smith (Sussex), Max Waller (Somerset), Adam Wheater (Essex), David Willey (Northamptonshire).
Fast bowling programme:
Jade Dernbach (Surrey), David Griffiths (Hampshire), James Harris (Glamorgan), Stuart Meaker (Surrey), Boyd Rankin (Warwickshire)
Thanks to thisisbath.co.uk for the picture.
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