Yorkshire Academy duo George Hill and Dom Leech have been selected as part of England’s Young Lions winter programme, which involves a 20-day pre-Christmas training camp in Bangalore.
The pair, both part of Yorkshire’s under 17s Championship title success earlier this year, will then be in contention to tour Bangladesh with the England Under 19s in the New Year.
Here, we get to know more about two potential stars of the future.
George Hill, aged 17, from Keighley.
All-rounder Hill has been playing for the Yorkshire Academy side for the last two years.
He also made his second-team debut in 2017, a solitary T20 appearance, and has played a handful of times since.
Yorkshire assistant coach Rich Pyrah said: “George is a talented cricketer in the Harry Brook mould. He’s come from the same private school as Harry, Sedbergh.
“You can see they’ve not had much coaching, they are natural players.
“He’s a genuine all-rounder.
“His strength at the minute is probably his batting, but he’s definitely got skills with the ball.
“He needs the full winter developing his strength. When that comes, his bowling will kick on.”
Hill explains how he, and Leech, first came to the attention of Yorkshire.
“We were both at Bunbury in the under 15s festival. We played a few games for the under 16s after that,” he said. “Richard Damms came to watch an under 15s game against Lancs and must have seen some potential and signed us on.
“Yorkshire tend to use a lot of homegrown players, which is good for us lads coming through.
“We are told time and time again that if you put in performances for the second team and the Academy, you will move up the levels.
“It’s nice to know your performances will be rewarded.”
