The England Lions (formerly England A)

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

team is England and Wales' "second-tier" team, below the full

England cricket team The England cricket team represents England and Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Marylebone Cricket Club (the MCC) since 1903. Engla ...

. It is largely intended as a way for promising young cricketers to gain experience of playing international cricket.

England B and England A

Although primarily intended as a touring team, for several years in the 1990s they played one match in England at the start of each season: between 1992 and 1995 against the previous season's county champion and in 1996 and 1997 against a Rest of England team. England A also played two

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

games against the full Sri Lankan touring side in England in 1991. Previously a second tier team known as "England B" played one game against the

Pakistanis Pakistanis ( ur, , translit=Pākistānī Qaum, ) are the citizens and nationals of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. According to the 2017 Pakistani national census, the population of Pakistan stood at over 213 million people, making it the w ...

in 1982 and had made a full tour of

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

in 1985/86. The first full tour by a team named "England A" was to

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

in 1989/90, and consisted of three first-class matches and three 50-over games. On this occasion England A played against the full

side, but on subsequent tours their most important opponents have usually been the equivalent A teams of the countries they have been touring. However, England A has toured Australia but had played a match against their Australian A team counterparts until 2021. They also often play matches against state or provincial sides, and in 2000/01 England A participated in the

Busta Cup The Regional Four Day Competition, formerly known as Shell Shield and Carib Beer Cup, is the first-class cricket competition in the West Indies. It is administered by the Cricket West Indies. In the 2013-2014 season the winner of the tourname ...

, the

West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...

domestic first-class competition, finishing in third place out of the eight teams taking part. In 2003/04 England A took part in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Duleep Trophy The Duleep Trophy, also known as Mastercard Duleep trophy due to sponsorship reasons, is a domestic first-class cricket competition played in India. Named after Kumar Shri Duleepsinhji of Nawanagar (also known as 'Duleep'), the competition wa ...

competition, but failed to progress beyond the group stages after losing both their matches. There were no England A matches played in the period between these two tours.

England Lions

The newly rebranded England Lions was then integrated with the

ECB National Academy The National Cricket Performance Centre first came into existence in the winter of 2001–2002 and has been based at Loughborough University since 2003. In 2007 following the "Schofield Report" the National Academy was renamed the National Cricke ...

, with touring parties taken from the Academy squad. On 15 June 2007, it was announced by the ECB (English & Welsh Cricket Board) the inaugural Lions side would play a one-day touring warm-up match against the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

. Later in the summer against the touring Indians the Lions drew a 3-day match at

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

and had a one-day match abandoned due to rain at

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

. On 4 January 2008 the squad for the England Lions tour of

was named, with Sussex batsman

Michael Yardy Michael Howard Yardy (born 27 November 1980) is an English cricket coach and former professional cricketer who played limited over internationals for the England cricket team between 2006 and 2015. He played as a left-handed batsman and captain ...

named as captain. The team competed in the 2008 Duleep Trophy domestic first-class competition in addition to friendly matches.Yardy leads Lions in India
", 2008-01-04,

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and ...

. Retrieved on 2008-01-04.

Current Squad

The following players were named in the squad for the 2021 England Lions tour to Australia. The captain of the side typically varies from series to series. = withdrawn before start of tour or during warm-up matches.

Results summary

Season-by-season

Head-to-head

Up to date as of 16 December 2015.

Notes

{{national sports teams of Wales England in international cricket Wales in international cricket National 'A' cricket teams C C