Taylor delight at Lions call

Date: Sunday 10 January 2010

Leicestershire batsman James Taylor was delighted to learn of his England Lions call-up this afternoon.

The recently turned 20-year-old, who had a marvellous 2009 season, is part of a 15-man touring party who will travel to UAE in February.

Taylor was recently selected on The ECB's England Performance Programme (EPP) in Pretoria, South Africa, and the call-up is another step in progress in the young man’s career.

The Lions will play Pakistan A in Twenty20 and 50-over fixtures throughout the month and there are also another couple of tasty looking T20 games on the agenda.

The Lions will face a full England side in a T20 game on February 17 in the capital city Abu Dhabi, while a twenty-over match against the UAE in Sharjah kicks off the tour on February 10.

Taylor will certainly be in good company on the trip, which also takes in Dubai.

A number of people on the current England test tour in South Africa are also on the Lions tour, including Ian Bell, Michael Carberry, Steven Davies, Adil Rashid and James Tredwell.

There will also be a few familiar faces from the EPP, such as Andrew Gale – who captains the side - Carberry, Steven Finn, Craig Kieswetter and Chris Woakes.

He cannot wait for it all to begin and is excited about joining up with his colleagues and continuing his development.

He said: “I’m delighted. I’m really pleased with being selected. To be a step closer to the full England team is great.

“There are a lot of senior players on the tour, so it will be great to play alongside them and learn from them and to play against some top-quality opposition.

“In a way it is like the next step on the ladder, having been on the EPP and now on a Lions tour. It is the next step on and I am really excited and looking forward to it.

“I know a few of the players from the EPP and will know the majority through the county game too. That will help me to settle in and I am looking forward to it.

“It will be particularly good to test myself in the shorter formats of the game. Pakistan A are a top side and they will have an exciting team.

“And, if I could get into the team and have the opportunity to play against the full England side, that would be a massive test and challenge to play against the best.

“The whole tour will be hard work and good fun and I can’t wait for it to come around.”

The Lions tour call-up is a continuation of Taylor’s remarkable progress since breaking into the Leicestershire first team last summer.

As he said, it is a step on from the EPP, which he learnt a great deal from.

Taylor got the chance to work with high-class coaches and also got to work with and watch some members of the full England squad go through their preparation for a test match.

He said: "It was amazing. It was high-quality training at high-quality facilities with great coaches. The intensity was really good.

“I worked really well with batting coach Dene Hills and also enjoyed working with Graham Gooch. It was all a great experience.

"We were working in different conditions with the heat and on different pitches and faced some really good net bowlers too. It was a good challenge.

“Alastair Cook and Ian Bell also joined us for a day in the nets which was good too. We also had a day where we got to watch the full England side train so to watch Kevin Pietersen and other senior batters play was a great experience.

“We didn’t get to see any games while we were out there but I have been following it on the television. The England side are going great guns at the moment and it is good to see.”

Taylor has certainly been busy over the winter in various countries and those hard yards will stand him in good stead for the coming months.

He will have learnt plenty from the varying conditions. Taylor spent a spell in India on the Rajasthan Royals’ Talent ID programme in October, was on the EPP in South Africa and will now experience Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah with the Lions.

One thing is for certain - Taylor will certainly look forward to getting back out in the heat after returning to the freezing conditions in the UK after enjoying the warm climate of Pretoria!

"It will certainly be warmer in UAE. It will be nice to have some warmer weather over here, but even though it is cold I am already looking forward to the new season at Leicestershire,” he smiled.

“All of the preparation – including the EPP and Lions Tour – should hopefully help me in preparation for the new season.

“I've worked really hard through the winter so far. But I relish that challenge of hard work and have loved getting stuck in. I did not want to rest too much after the 2009 season.

"I had a couple of weeks off over Christmas and New Year but that was just a breather and I have started work again.

“The harder I work, the easier it is to deal with challenges that come like the Lions Tour and the intensity of matches when they come around in the summer.”

He feels preparations are going well on all fronts. It has been a busy winter at Grace Road and Taylor feels the squad is looking strong ahead of thew season.

Taylor is impressed with the new signings made, and he too gave the club a boost by signing a new deal at Leicestershire alongside Greg Smith, Nathan Buck, Josh Cobb, Wayne White, AJ Harris, Jigar Naik and Claude Henderson.

He is particulary looking forward to meeting new club captain Matthew Hoggard.

He said: "It is great news that we will we led by Matthew Hoggard this season. It is great to have such an experienced bowler leading the attack and the team.

"His experience will be invaluable to everyone. He will be able to help some of the younger bowlers at the club but I think it will also help the young batters too.

“Matthew has played at the top level for many years and will be able to tell us how bowlers might bowl at us.

"Overall, I feel the balance of the side is looking good. I'm already looking forward to the season – I can’t wait!”