JAMES Vince and Liam Dawson will today become the first pair of homegrown Hampshire cricketers to play for England together - and will do so at The Ageas Bowl.

Not since June 2009, when Kevin Pietersen and Dimi Mascarenhas played for the host nation at the World T20, have two Hampshire players been in the same England team, writes Simon Walter.

But never before have two homegrown Hampshire cricketers represented their country together.

Dawson, 26, will be making his full England debut and Hampshire captain Vince, 25, his tenth international in all formats.

The last match of Sri Lanka’s tour begins at 6.30pm.

Chris Tremlett and Danny Briggs are the only previous Hampshire academy products to have played for England, but Hampshire have not had two in the same side - until today.

Vince, 25, and Dawson, 26, are both from Wiltshire. Vince was in his teens when his association with the county began, while Dawson joined Hampshire aged just ten.

Tony Middleton, Hampshire’s batting coach and former academy director, has had the biggest influence on both players and will be one of the proudest men in Hampshire when he takes his seat at The Ageas Bowl tonight.

“Daws came much younger as a ten year-old so we saw more of him in those early years,” he said.

“Wiltshire didn’t have an Under-11 team at the time so he joined us, as a little chubby lad bowling left-arm seamers.

“He took up spin soon after and has always had that competitive spirit with the ball and the bat.

“He came on a lot last year although I assume he’ll be playing as more of a bowler against Sri Lanka.”

Dawson is likely to replace Moeen Ali in one of at least four changes to the team that lost the World T20 final, with Alex Hales, Joe Root and Ben Stokes - who is playing for Durham against Hampshire as a batsman - also rested.

“I still see my batting as my number one priority but I’ve improved my bowling in the last two or three years,” said Dawson recently.

“In one-day cricket I like to think they are just as good as each other.”

A former England Under-19s captain, Dawson has had an incredible year since being sent out on loan to Essex last July, particularly in white-ball cricket.

In the last 12 months he has made 526 runs at 75 in the 50-over One-Day Cup as well as being Hampshire’s top scorer (149 runs at 21.3) and leading wicket-taker (seven at 24) in this season’s Natwest T20 Blast.

He was also England Lions’ best performing all-rounder during their 50-over series against Pakistan in January (171 runs at 34.2 and eight wickets 26).

Vince arrives at the Ageas Bowl fresh from making his maiden international fifty (51) as England clinched a 3-0 ODI series win against Sri Lanka on Saturday.

It followed a disappointing maiden Test series (54 runs at 13.5) but Vince was man of the series after making 125 runs at 41.66 in his first three T20 internationals, against Pakistan in November - and no-one knows the Ageas Bowl better.

Middleton first worked with Vince when the Hampshire captain was 14.

He said: “Vincey is fairly established now and knows his game well so we don’t do much technical work these days.

“But I keep an eye on things and watched him on the TV on Saturday. It was a shame he got out when he did, he was batting so well.”