Fifteen years after England duo of Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff ended their Test careers, their sons are likely to begin their journey in the traditional format at the age-group level in two Tests against Sri Lanka. Archie Vaughan, son of the former Ashes-winning England captain, was on Tuesday named in a 14-member squad that also includes 16-year-old Rocky Flintoff, who has already made his international debut in youth ODIs. Family connection runs deep in the squad that also features Farhan Ahmed, brother of current England leg-spinner Rehan and Jaydn Denly, the 17-year-old nephew of ex-England batter Joe Denly.

“They’ve helped me and given me more confidence in my leadership on and off the field, advising on bowling options and field placements,” skipper Hamza Shaikh told Warwickshire’s website.

“I like to think I’m a fairly calm guy and captaincy doesn’t faze me. I’m looking forward to the challenge and hopefully coming away with a series win.” A top-order batter and off-spinner, Archie, 18, represented Somerset in his first professional contract earlier this season. He had been been part of the county’s academy set-up at Taunton since 2020.

He is however yet to play for Somerset first-team. But at age-group level last week, he caught the attention with a 83-ball 85 for Young Lions Invitational XI in a warm-up match against the England U19 ODI squad, for whom Rocky, a right-handed allrounder, top-scored with 106.

Vaughan and Flintoff Sr had played 48 Tests together between 1999 and 2008.

England U19 side will take on Sri Lanka U19 in two Tests, at Wormsley from July 8-11, and Cheltenham from July 16-19.

England U19 Squad: Hamza Shaikh (c), Farhan Ahmed, Charlie Brand, Jack Carney, Jaydn Denly, Rocky Flintoff, Kesh Fonseka, Alex French, Alex Green, Eddie Jack, Freddie McCann, Harry Moore, Noah Thain and Archie Vaughan.

England on Thursday announced their playing XI for the fourth Test against India, starting Friday in Ranchi. The visitors, who trail the five-match series 1-2, have made two changes to the side which suffered a heavy defeat in Rajkot last week. Ollie Robinson and Shoaib Bashir have replaced Mark Wood and Rehan Ahmed. England lost the third Test by 434 runs, the biggest-ever win for India in Tests in terms of runs. The visitors had won the opener in Hyderabad, but have suffered defeats in the last two games and find themselves behind in the series.

Despite his recent struggles, Jonny Bairstow has managed to keep his place in the XI, as earlier suggested by both captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum that they are not worried about the star batter’s form.

Veteran pacer James Anderson also keeps his place despite reports suggesting that he might be rested for the game.

On the eve of the team announcement for the 4th Test, England captain Stokes praised Robinson and said that he has worked “incredibly hard” even after not taking part in the first three Test matches against India.

Adressing the pre-match press conference, Stokes accepted it could be “tough” for a player like Robinson not to be included in the first eleven of the first three Test matches of the five-game series.

“He has worked incredibly hard while he has been out here. And it is tough for someone like Ollie, who’s played such a big part in the game over the last two years, where he has not taken part in a game and the stuff he has done away from the game itself has been very good,” Stokes had said.

Bashir comes back to the side after missing the previous game, replacing the struggling Ahmed.

England playing XI for 4th Test:

Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Ben Stokes (C), Jonny Bairstow, Ben Foakes (wk), Tom Hartley, Ollie Robinson, Shoaib Bashir and James Anderson