England’s National Performance Director David Parsons has given Nottinghamshire Director of Cricket Mick Newell a ringing endorsement ahead of England Lions’ first competitive match of their Caribbean tour.

Parsons and Newell are leading the tour which aims to assess and prepare players ahead of potential selection for the national team.

“Mick obviously brings with him lots of experience of the county game,” said Parsons.

“He works alongside some very good players at Nottinghamshire and has overseen their success in recent years. So we’re looking forward to sharing some of that experience with him.

“Similarly, it’s a good opportunity for him to get involved in an England programme so that he will also take away quite a lot from this experience so it’s mutually beneficial.”

Somerset batsman James Hildreth will captain the Lions on tour with Ravi Bopara perhaps the most celebrated member of a talented young squad.

“Ravi is obviously disappointed not to be in the one-day squad and we would expect that given that he’s been so close in recent times but he’s pretty determined that he’s going to show what he’s capable of on this tour,” said Parsons.

“We have a number of players that you can look at in that squad that will sense they have an opportunity over the next 12 months or so to make that step up into the England team.

“And we have a group of younger players and their chance may come some way down the line but it’s good to have that mixture.”

The Lions will play six games on tour with Newell returning to Trent Bridge at the end of March.