Ollie Robinson to attend specialist England and Lions bowling camp

Ollie Robinson will be one of five seam bowlers to benefit from a specialist bowling camp run by the ECB to support England and England Lions players.

James Anderson and Mark Wood will continue their rehabilitation from injury at the camp in Potchefstroom at the start of December, alongside Robinson, Olly Stone and Craig Overton.

The bowlers will all benefit from the expertise of Lancashire head coach Glen Chapple and Durham’s Neil Killeen.

With England’s short-term needs in mind, Anderson and Wood have worked with ECB practitioners on an intensive rehab process since the summer with the aim of being available for selection for the upcoming tour of South Africa.

Jonny Bairstow will also be in Potchefstroom, supported by coach Jonathan Trott, with the aim of returning to England’s Test squad, while Carl Hopkinson will provide fielding coaching to the group.

Stone, Overton and Robinson are attending as part of the Lions’ Individualised Programmes - a new approach that provides bespoke programmes for a targeted group of players, allowing them to focus on specific areas of improvement, as agreed with their counties and the players themselves.

As part of the Individualised Programmes, eight more players will attend a camp in Mumbai to work with specialist spin bowling and batting coaches between 26 November-17 December.

Batsmen Will Jacks, James Bracey, Dan Lawrence, Keaton Jennings and Sam Hain will work with Surrey assistant head coach Vikram Solanki, while spinners Dom Bess, Mason Crane and Amar Virdi will hone their skills with Gloucestershire head coach Richard Dawson.

Former Sri Lanka international spinner Rangana Herath will also be working with the young spinners for part of the camp, while Somerset’s Paul Tweddle will work on fielding skills and Bruce French will work with Bracey on his wicketkeeping.

In addition to these camps, the Individualised Programmes will see prospective England white ball players encouraged to play periods of franchise cricket, such as Liam Livingstone in the T20 tournaments in South Africa and Australia.

Others will play grade cricket in Australia, such as Warwickshire’s Henry Brookes who will turn out for Bayswater Morley in Western Australia, whilst also benefitting from specialist conditioning and medical support arranged locally by the ECB.  

ECB Performance Director Mo Bobat said: “The Individualised Programmes are a great opportunity for some of our best young cricketers to focus on specific areas of their game in unfamiliar and challenging conditions around the world. It’s a great example of how a strong and joined up pathway and county system can support Ed Smith’s succession planning whilst delivering better prepared players to Chris Silverwood and England.

“While these two camps have overall themes of pace and spin, each player in attendance will have a uniquely tailored training programme. Some of the players involved are in England’s immediate plans, while others will be working on areas that will benefit the national team’s medium- and long-term needs. 

“We’re fortunate to be working with a number of high-quality coaches and support staff to help deliver this fresh approach to our programming, which is testament to the strong links we have with the counties.”