Vince Made Available For Opening County Championship Contest

Hampshire captain James Vince has been made available to get straight back into action for the start of the Specsavers County Championship next week.

Vince is one of six members of the England Test squad set to be available over the next two weeks as Joe Root's side head home shortly from New Zealand.

The right-hander will be available for Hampshire's four-day opener against newly-promoted Worcestershire at the The Ageas Bowl next week, and will reamin available for the three further rounds of Championship matches that are played before the start of the Royal London One-Day Cup on 17th May.

Full England player availability for the early stages of the Specsavers County Championship:

James Vince (Hants) – available for all games from April 13 (but not v Cardiff MCCU April 7-9).

Alastair Cook (Essex) – available for Specsavers County Championship matches against Hampshire (April 27-30), Yorkshire (May 4-7) and Worcestershire (May 11-14).

Liam Livingstone (Lancs) – available for all games from April 13 (but not v Loughborough MCCU April 7-9). Jimmy Anderson (Lancs) – tbc.

Dawid Malan (Middlesex) – available for Specsavers County Championship matches against Glamorgan (27-30 April), Sussex (4-7 May), and Gloucestershire (11-14 May). Eoin Morgan (Middlesex) – available for all matches.

Stuart Broad (Notts) – available for Specsavers County Championship matches against Worcestershire (27-30 April), Hampshire (4-7 May) and Lancashire (11-14 May).

Mark Stoneman and Ben Foakes (Surrey) – available for all games from April 20 (but not v Cambridge MCCU April 13-15).

Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow (Yorks) – available for Specsavers County Championship matches against Essex (4-7 May) and Surrey (11-14 May). Liam Plunkett, Gary Ballance, and David Willey (Yorks) – available for all matches.

Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Jos Buttler (Lancashire), Jason Roy (Surrey), Ben Stokes (Durham), Chris Woakes (Warwickshire) and Mark Wood (Durham) are all unavailable for the start of the season having signed to play in the Indian Premier League. Players selected for the first Test of the summer against Pakistan which starts at Lord’s on May 24 have been told by the ECB that they are expected to return by May 17, with availability for Royal London One-Day Cup fixtures to be confirmed nearer the time.