Dominic Bess and Craig Overton called up by England after squad is hit by sickness bug

Dominic Bess’ last Test appearance for England was against Pakistan in 2018
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England have called up Somerset duo Dominic Bess and Craig Overton after illness ripped through the England camp in the build-up to the Boxing Day Test against South Africa.

Jofra Archer, Stuart Broad and Jack Leach were all ruled out of the opening tour match earlier this week and Joe Denly is the latest player to fall ill with flu-like symptoms.

As a result, today’s match against South Africa A has been downgraded from its first-class status and England’s selectors have opted to strengthen their options by bringing in Bess and Overton.

The pair are due to arrive at the team’s training base in Johannesburg tomorrow and could go straight into the Test side if illness continues to ravage the squad.

Bess, who boasts two previous Test appearances for England, is seen as a direct back-up to Leach and Matt Parkinson.

The 22-year-old was called up as injury cover for county team-mate Leach for the home series against Pakistan in 2018 and scored two half-centuries as well as taking three wickets in his second Test following a wicket-less debut.

Overton, meanwhile, made his England debut back in the 2017-18 Ashes series — his first Test wicket that of then Australia captain Steve Smith. The last of his four

Test appearances was in the penultimate Test of this summer’s Ashes at Old Trafford.

The illness in the England camp has affected backroom staff and players. As a result of depleted numbers, head coach Chris Silverwood requested Cricket South Africa reduce today’s three-day match to a friendly, allowing England to select from a wider squad during the course of the match.

A spokesperson for the England and Wales Cricket Board said: “We would like to take this opportunity to thank CSA for their flexibility on this situation and to emphasise that under normal circumstances we would have wanted to play the match first-class but illness in the camp has made this very problematic.”

Despite being ruled out today, Archer, Broad and Leach could feature in the latter two days of England’s friendly. It is unclear whether Denly, who was named in England’s initial line-up against South Africa A, will bat during the three days.

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