HeadlinesBriefing favicon HeadlinesBriefing.com

England call up Crocombe and Donald for Sri Lanka series

Sky Sports Champions League •
×

England have called up uncapped Derbyshire batter Aneurin Donald and Sussex seam bowler Henry Crocombe for this month's T20s and ODIs against Sri Lanka respectively, live on Sky Sports. Donald plundered 489 runs, including four half-centuries, across 12 matches in this summer's Vitality Blast - he also hit the most sixes with 37 - while he then impressed for Trent Rockets in The Hundred. The Wales-born player - who struck the joint-fastest Blast fifty, off just 13 balls, for Derbyshire against Yorkshire in 2025 - comes into a 16-man T20 squad missing opening batter Phil Salt (quad).

Crocombe, who has taken hat-tricks in his last two County Championship matches, is part of a 16-strong ODI group. Brydon Carse, currently being investigated by the Cricket Regulator after an incident outside a Derby nightclub in August, is not included for the ODIs or T20s, having already been withdrawn from recent Test squads to face Pakistan. Sam Curran (groin) and Jacob Bethell (knee) are absent through injury - the ECB has said Bethell underwent successful surgery this week and is targeting the white-ball tour of Australia in November as a return date.

Curran and Bethell's fellow all-rounder Jamie Overton returns after sitting out the T20 and ODI series victories at home to India in July with a quad issue sustained at the IPL, while batters Jordan Cox and Ben Duckett are in both squads. The T20 leg versus Sri Lanka begins in Southampton on September 15 - two days after the scheduled end of the third and final Test against Pakistan at Edgbaston - ahead of games in Cardiff on September 17 and Emirates Old Trafford on September 19. The ODIs, England's final assignment of the home summer, then take place at Durham (September 22), Headingley (September 24) and The Kia Oval (September 27).

Crocombe was added to England's Test party during the New Zealand series in June when Sussex team-mate Ollie Robinson picked up a knee niggle but did not feature. The 24-year-old, who will join Surrey from 2027 onwards, has claimed 49 wickets across 36 domestic 50-over matches and a further 34 in 35 T20 fixtures, with those numbers adding to over 100 scalps in red-ball cricket. Another uncapped Sussex player, spin-bowling all-rounder James Coles, retains his place in the ODI and T20 groups after earning a maiden call-up for the India games a couple of months ago. T20 call-up Donald has hit 18 fifties in that format domestically across 106 innings, with a best of 91. Brendon McCullum - now solely white-ball coach after his removal from the Test job following the 2-1 defeat to New Zealand - can call upon Test captain Joe Root for the ODIs with England opting against resting him.