Freddie McCann has earned his first England Lions call up for the tour to South Africa from 20 November to 14 December, with Farhan Ahmed and Dillon Pennington also included. 

The camp will focus on supporting the development of the highest potential players, with a focus on individualised and high-quality training. 

The tour, which has been designed to further develop England's talent pool across both formats and all skills, will conclude with a four-day match against South Africa A in Western Province. 

Both McCann and Ahmed enjoyed breakthrough years with Notts, with the latter becoming the youngest to take a First-Class five-wicket haul for the county against Surrey. 

He finished the season with 22 wickets in four County Championship games, at an average of 23.23, and an economy under three. 

McCann made his maiden Notts bow in T20, 50 over and First-Class cricket in 2024, as well as equalling the highest U19 ODI score with 174 against Sri Lanka. 

He made 48 from 32 balls against Yorkshire on his first Vitality Blast appearance, before a half-century against Durham on his maiden County Championship start. 

One fixture later, against Surrey at Trent Bridge, the left-hander made 154 against an attack including Dan Worrall and Jordan Clark, before another Trent Bridge ton against Warwickshire in the final game of the season.

Pennington, meanwhile, earns international recognition again after being called up to the England senior squad earlier this year, prior to suffering an injury in The Hundred. 

Andrew Flintoff will lead the group on his first assignment since getting the 12-month Head Coach role. 

 

England Lions Squad:

Farhan Ahmed (Nottinghamshire)

Zaman Akhtar (Gloucestershire)

Kasey Aldridge (Somerset)

Pat Brown (Derbyshire)

Jafer Chohan (Yorkshire) – part involvement

James Coles (Sussex)

Henry Crocombe (Sussex)

Josh Hull (Leicestershire)

Matt Hurst (Lancashire) – part involvement

Tom Lawes (Surrey)

Freddie McCann (Nottinghamshire)

Ben McKinney (Durham)

Harry Moore (Derbyshire)

Dan Mousley (Warwickshire)

Dillon Pennington (Nottinghamshire)

James Rew (Somerset)

Hamza Shaikh (Warwickshire)

Mitch Stanley (Lancashire)

John Turner (Hampshire)