DEVON duo Craig Overton and Dom Bess have been called up to the England Test squad as cover ahead of the first Test starting on Boxing Day against South Africa at SuperSport Park, Centurion due to illness in the camp.

The duo, who first came to the fore playing through the Devon County age-group system and for North Devon CC and Sidmouth CC respectively, are due to arrive at the team’s base in Johannesburg tomorrow (Saturday) morning.

The pair both represented Devon CCC at 16 before joining the Somerset Pathway and Craig has played four Tests since making his debut against Australia in Adelaide in December 2017 whilst Dom played in two Tests against Pakistan in 2018.

Due to a flu bug running through the England camp, it has been agreed that the match against South Africa A starting at Willowmoore Park today (Friday) has been downgraded to a three-day friendly tour match with only 11 players batting or fielding at any point in time. The playing conditions remain as previously agreed.

A spokesperson for the England and Wales Cricket Board said: “ECB 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.”