HAMPSHIRE batsman Tom Alsop has kept his place in the England Lions squads for their tour of Sri Lanka earlier next year.

Alsop made his first class and List A debuts for the Lions earlier this month in Dubai.

He played all three one day games against the United Arab Emirates - scoring 24, 44 (in a game where the UEA were skittled for 90) and 11.

After that, he opened the innings in a first class game against Afghanistan and scored 40 and 6.

The Lions won all four of those games.

Alsop will now get more chances to impress when the Lions face Sri Lanka A in a four-day and 50-over series in February and March.

Keaton Jennings, the Durham opener who scored a century on his Test debut against India in Mumbai last week, has been named Lions captain for their tour .

Fellow batsmen Haseeb Hameed and Ben Duckett, who also made their Test debuts this winter, are included in the travelling party who will play two four-day games and five 50-over contests.

Jennings, who was the leading run-scorer in Specsavers County Championship Division One last season but was only flown out to join England's touring party on the subcontinent after Hameed broke his hand, will lead the side in both formats.

The 19-year-old Hameed, who impressed with 219 runs at an average of 43.8 in the first three Tests against India opening alongside Alastair Cook, will take part in the four-day games, with left-hander Duckett - who was dropped after the second game of the series after struggling against spin - arriving for the limited-overs leg of the tour.

Alsop, Joe Clarke, Liam Livingstone, Ben Foakes, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Ollie Rayner, Craig Overton and Tom Helm join Jennings in both squads.

Nick Gubbins, Tom Westley, Toby Roland-Jones and Jack Leach are selected for the first part of the tour and Daniel Bell-Drummond, James Fuller and Josh Poysden coming in for the 50-over series.

England national selector James Whitaker said: "The Lions play such an important role in bridging the gap between county and international cricket, and after a successful training camp in the UAE culminating in an excellent win against Afghanistan, this tour of Sri Lanka is a great opportunity for the players to gain experience of playing on the subcontinent."