Warwickshire skipper Will Rhodes has been appointed captain of a County Select XI that will take on the visiting India XI in a three-day warm-up game in Durham, starting Tuesday.
Rhodes has been named skipper of the playing XI featuring the best from the available county players and will be entering the fixture after 452 runs in the ongoing County Championship.
Among other notable inclusions in the 14-member squad that the ECB announced on Thursday are Haseem Hameed, James Bracey, Jake Libby and Ethan Bamber.
While opening batter Hameed has been a cricketer rejuvenated in this first-class season with 642 runs from 15 innings at an average of 45.85, Bracey, the young wicketkeeper-batsman, remains part of the mix after struggles against New Zealand in his debut Test series in June.
Libby is only second in the list of top-run getters from the ongoing Championship after 798 runs from 10 games at 61.68. His tournament tally for Worcestershire includes three hundreds and three half-centuries.
Bamber is the Middlesex right-arm quick, who has been rewarded with selection into the County Select XI after 32 scalps from nine Championship games this season at 22.61 runs per piece.
“The squad was selected after consulting with the first-class counties on player availability and to provide some of the high potential talent from across the county game with the opportunity to test themselves against the ICC World Test Championship finalists,”
“The county players will bridge into a team environment and undergo Covid testing before being cleared to play in the match.”
the ECB said in a statement.