LONDON (Web Desk) - Harry Brook will take April off and play twice for Yorkshire before England's first Test of the summer against New Zealand in June, as Ben Stokes challenged county cricketers to put themselves in the mix for selection.
Brook, who was cautioned on Wednesday by the Cricket Regulator for his late-night actions in Wellington late last year, played all 25 of England's winter fixtures and spent only a week at home between the start of October and mid-March. He will play Yorkshire's fixtures against Warwickshire (May 8) and Surrey (May 15) before linking up with England for the Test summer.
Joe Root, Brook's Yorkshire team-mate, will play three County Championship matches before the first Test, against Sussex (April 24), Somerset (May 1) and Surrey. Root has not played a competitive match since England's ODI tour to Sri Lanka in late January but has opted for a few weeks off before the start of the international summer.
Six members of the England squad that lost 4-1 in Australia are in action in the first round of Championship fixtures, which started on Friday morning: Shoaib Bashir mades his debut for Derbyshire, Zak Crawley and Matthew Potts were playing for Kent and Durham respectively, while Ollie Pope, Jamie Smith and Matthew Fisher were in action for Surrey at Edgbaston.
Pope lost his place at No. 3 to Jacob Bethell for the final two Ashes Tests this winter and came in at No. 4 for Surrey. Smith, England's Test wicketkeeper, was caught behind for 9 on the first morning after coming in at No. 3, with Ben Foakes due to take the gloves ahead of him. Gus Atkinson was deemed unavailable due to the hamstring injury he sustained in Australia.
Nottinghamshire's Ben Duckett and Josh Tongue were both rested after busy winters, while Ben Stokes (cheekbone) and Mark Wood (knee) were unavailable for Durham. Bethell, Jordan Cox, Will Jacks and Brydon Carse are all in India for the early stages of the IPL season.
England's heavy defeat in Australia means that there are likely to be changes to the Test squad for the New Zealand series in June. The position of national selector is still vacant after Luke Wright's departure following the T20 World Cup, but England have made clear that they will pay attention to early-season performances in the Championship.
Rob Key and Brendon McCullum spoke to county directors of cricket on Wednesday evening ahead of the new season, and Stokes used the ECB's media channels to tell players that he would be watching their performances closely.
"It's a great opportunity for a lot of people around the country," Stokes said. "The talent that we have in England is just unquestionable. The pool of players, the talent that we have, it's probably as good as it's been in a very long time.
"The first six or seven weeks of Championship cricket, it's going to be a very big one and people should use that as an opportunity to push their case as far forward as they possibly can. I hope they're giving themselves the best chance of coming up for selection when we get together to do that."
Earlier this week, Northamptonshire head coach Darren Lehmann criticised the dearth of county cricket played by most England players. "The players don't play enough county cricket," he told the BBC. "They should play more, but that's not my call."