Buck called up for Lions tour

The 19-year-old Leicestershire seamer Nathan Buck has been called up to the England Lions squad for their tour of the Caribbean, as a replacement for Steven Finn, who will remain with the senior squad for the duration of their one-day series in Australia.

Buck has been drafted into the Lions squad for warm-up period of the tour, which begins on Friday with a two-day game against a St Kitts/Nevis combined XI, as well as the opening two first-class fixtures against Leeward Islands and Barbados.

Finn, who has taken the place of the injured Tim Bresnan in England's ODI squad, is then scheduled to join the Lions in the Caribbean ahead of their third fixture against Trinidad & Tobago starting on February 18, with the Warwickshire fast bowler Chris Woakes scheduled to replace him for the second half of the tour.

Buck had been selected for the ECB's Fast Bowling programme this winter and after undergoing a conditioning programme at the National Cricket Performance Centre at Loughborough before Christmas was due to fly out to Chennai shortly to work with former Australian quick bowler Dennis Lillee at the MRF Pace Foundation.

Finn and Woakes are the latest graduates from the Fast Bowling programme to win full international recognition by England with fellow FB programme products Maurice Chambers, Jade Dernbach and James Harris also progressing to the Lions squad this winter.

ECB Performance Director David Parsons said: "Nathan had an excellent summer with Leicestershire last year taking 49 County Championship wickets in his first full season in County cricket and the Lions tour will provide him with an excellent opportunity to further demonstrate his potential."