Promising young pacer Sonny Baker to make England ODI debut against South Africa

Add as a preferred source on Google

Sonny Baker will make his England one-day international debut in the first of their three-match series against South Africa.

The 22-year-old, who made his England Lions debut earlier this year, enjoyed a strong campaign in The Hundred as he took nine wickets in seven matches.

The seamer was regularly hitting the 90mph mark with his deliveries and threatened with the new ball.

England white-ball captain Harry Brook revealed it was Baker's spells against the likes of David Warner, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith and Jonny Bairstow that earned him a starting spot.

"All four are world-class batters and he was all over them," Brook told BBC Sport.

"He bowled with high pace and high skill. He was awesome to watch this year and everyone was talking about him. He's got me out before, a few years ago in The Hundred.

"He can swing it both ways with exceptional death skills as well so to have him in the team and for him to be opening up tomorrow is awesome."

England's ODI series against the Proteas begins on Tuesday at Headingley, with Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse included in the team after missing the final Test against India in July.

Joe Root and Will Jacks joined the England squad slightly later than anticipated after taking part in The Hundred final, and Brook admitted he would have liked the team to be together earlier.

"In an ideal world, we'd have liked to meet up yesterday and train yesterday, train today and go into the game as a group, but nobody is short of cricket, that's for sure," he added.

"Everybody's raring to go and loving playing for England.

"We're trying to create an environment where we're working towards something, like [World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan] Morgs did when he took over years ago."

England XI to play South Africa in first ODI: Jamie Smith, Ben Duckett, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jos Buttler, Jacob Bethell, Will Jacks, Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer, Adil Rashid, Sonny Baker.