Liam Dawson will play in this year’s North-South series in Barbados in March.

The Hampshire all-rounder was man of the series when the South won last year’s inaugural series 3-0, averaging 52 with the bat and 22 with the ball over the three games.

The top four England-qualified players in the PCA’s MVP Rankings for each group of the Royal London One-Day Cup were again invited.

But James Vince,who was ranked 14th overall after scoring Hampshire’s highest-ever List A score last season, will be with England’s Test squad in New Zealand.

National Selector James Whitaker said: “The unavailability of several of the players who had earned automatic invitations means the squads are tilted more towards youth and potential this year.

“The North squad has six players aged 21 or under, and the South squad includes four 20-year-olds plus Sam Curran, who is still only 19.

England batting coach Mark Ramprakash will be head coach of the South.

He said: “It’s a new series this year with completely different squads, and we know Colly and the North will be keen to make amends for what happened in the 2017 series in the UAE,

“There’s a big incentive for all the players to impress as we get closer to the 2019 World Cup, and I’m looking forward to getting involved in the series for the first time

The teams will each play a warm-up game on March 15 before the three-match series at the Kensington Oval on March 18, 21 and 23. The Kensington Oval will also stage the MCC’s Champion County match against Essex from March 27-30 in a spring festival of English cricket in Barbados.

Squads

North: S Mullaney (Notts, captain), S Hain (Warwickshire*), B Duckett (Northamptonshire), J Clarke (Worcestershire), K Jennings (Lancashire), B D’Oliveira (Worcestershire), A Davies (Lancashire, wk), P Coughlin (Notts), M Fisher (Yorkshire), S Mahmood (Lancashire), R Gleeson (Northamptonshire), Z Chappell (Leicestershire), M Parkinson (Lancashire).

South: S Northeast (Kent, captain), D Bell-Drummond (Kent*), N Gubbins (Middlesex), D Lawrence (Essex), D Rawlins (Sussex), L Dawson (Hampshire), J Simpson (Middlesex, wk), S Curran (Surrey), P Walter (Essex), D Bess (Somerset), T Helm (Middlesex), J Porter (Essex), G Garton (Sussex).