Lumb gets central contract to play home matches for England

Melbourne, Apr 21 (ANI): Hampshire opener Michael Lumb, who has already made it into the England squad for the Twenty20 World Cup, now joins a group including the 11 elite players on 12-month central contracts and the seven with second-tier deals.

Lumb is the only new player in England's 27-man squad announced on Tuesday for the team's home matches this year.

England will play two Tests against Bangladesh in May followed by five ODI matches against Australia, The Age reports.

England then hosts Bangladesh again for three one-day matches before playing Pakistan for four Tests, two Twenty20s and five one-day matches.

"The England Performance Squad is designed to allow the selectors to monitor the development of international players and better prepare them for the demands of the international game," national selector Geoff Miller said.

"The selectors can name up to 30 players in the EPS, but we have decided to keep three places vacant at present in order to give ourselves greater flexibility.

"We will reserve the right to add further players to the squad if their performances in domestic cricket merit it," Miller added. (ANI)