Haseeb Hameed to captain England Lions in Sri Lanka

The Nottinghamshire batter will lead England Lions in two red-ball games against Sri Lanka A before handing over the reins to Tom Abell for the white-ball series

Haseeb Hameed will captain England Lions during their upcoming tour of Sri Lanka.

The Nottinghamshire batter will lead the Lions in two four-day red-ball games against Sri Lanka A before handing over the reins to Tom Abell for the white-ball series.

Haseeb made his Test debut back in 2016 against India before returning to the squad after a near five-year absence in 2021.

^{Hameed celebrates a century for Nottinghamshire in the 2022 County Championship [Alex Davidson/Getty Images]}

In total, he has made 10 Test appearances, scoring 439 runs at 24.38, including four half-centuries. His last outing came in January 2022 during the fourth Ashes Test in Sydney.

However, the 25-year-old heads to Sri Lanka off the back of a strong domestic season, during which he scored 1,235 first-class runs at 58.80 (four centuries, seven half-centuries) as Nottinghamshire earned promotion to Division One.

Neil Killeen, who was recently appointed as the ECB's elite pace bowling coach, will oversee the Lions on this tour, with support from Graeme Swann and Ian Bell.

England Lions' first red-ball match against Sri Lanka A is scheduled to run from January 31-February 3 while the second will take place between February 7-10. Both matches will be held in Galle.

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