Phil Mustard named in provisional academy squad

By Jon Steer
July 2 2003

Phil Mustard, until recently Durham's reserve keeper behind Andrew Pratt has been named in the provisional squad for the ECB National Academy this winter. If selected he will be following in the footsteps of teammates Steve Harmison and Gordon Muchall who were included in the last two squads.

Mustard has played in a total of four first class games, three of those this season and has a highest score of 75. He is the only wicket-keeper to be named in the squad of 15.

The squad named is only provisional and according to director Rodney Marsh is designed to give players not on the list a motive to show what they can do in the rest of the season and to show those on the list that they must still work hard to get the place for real.

Unlike previous academy intakes, this year's group will be based at the academy's new home in the brand new indoor facility at Loughborough. The academy will tour India and Malaysia over the winter.

Phil has recently been used to open the innings in one day and twenty20 games, something which hasn't yet brought him a lot of runs, but it may be this that has helped his inclusion in the squad as Marsh has said that the squad was chosen with a bias towards the one-day game as preparation for the 2007 world cup.