National Counties Quartet In England White Ball Squad

Four products of National Counties cricket have been included in England’s white ball squad for their forthcoming of the West Indies.

Essex’s former Cambridgeshire wicketkeeper/batter Michael Pepper has received his first England call-up as replacement for Jos Buttler, who will miss the three One Day Internationals because of injury but not the five T20 matches that follow.

Pepper joins a squad that already included Surrey’s former Devon pace bowler Jamie Overton, Lancashire’s former Cumberland – now Cumbria – all-rounder Liam Livingstone and Yorkshire leg-spinner Jafer Chohan who first came to prominence playing for Berkshire in their National Counties Trophy-winning side and the National Counties XI in the Dream 11 European T10 Championship two years ago.

Pepper played for Cambridgeshire through the county’s age group system and made his senior debut for them ten years ago, three years before he first played Second XI cricket for Essex.

He made his most recent appearance for Cambridgeshire in the final of the 2022 National Counties T20 competition in their defeat by Oxfordshire at Tring Park.

Pepper has just enjoyed a breakthrough season with Essex in which was a regular in their Vitality County Championship and Vitality Blast sides as well as playing a second season for London Spirit in The Hundred.

Overton, a product of the North Devon club, played all his county youth cricket for Devon before making his senior debut for them against Oxfordshire at Great & Little Tew in a three-day Championship match in June 2011.

His most recent appearances for Devon came in the 2014 Trophy final over Oxfordshire at Wormsley by which time was a contracted Somerset player.

Livingstone, born and educated in Barrow, was just 15 when he made his senior debut for Cumberland in a 50 overs Trophy match against Shropshire at Workington in May 2009 while was also playing for the county’s Under-17 side that season.

He went on to make a further 15 appearances for Cumberland across all formats and was a member of their Trophy-winning side in 2012 alongside another future England international, seamer Richard Gleeson.

Livingstone’s last appearance for Cumberland came at the start of the 2013 season when he made an unbeaten half-century in a seven wickets Trophy victory over Cambridgeshire at Wisbech.

Chohan’s county youth cricket was played for Middlesex but he was not offered a contract by them and it was Berkshire, through their Head Coach Tom Lambert, who opened up a route into first-class cricket.

Chohan was a key member of Berkshire’s Trophy-winning side two years ago and was also a regular in their white ball side before he gained further exposure and experience at the European T10 finals in Spain.

England’s white ball side in the West Indies also includes Warwickshire batter Dan Mousley who played one match for Staffordshire – a Championship match against Suffolk in 2019 – as part of his development.