LESS than two years ago Stephen Parry was helping Firwood Bootle win the Business Assistance (NW) Knock-Out Trophy.

This morning the Lancashire slow left-armer will make his England Lions debut when he plays in the final of the Triangular Series against India A at Worcester.

The slow left-armer was told of his selection for the Lions squad by the ECB’s performance director David Parsons on Sunday evening, and he has since had it confirmed that he will be in the team to take on a powerful batting line-up which scored 343 runs in Tuesday’s 50-over tie with the Lions.

“I was pretty surprised to get the call to be honest,” said Parry. “I didn’t think I was close to being picked.

“But as I thought more about it, my selection did make sense because I’ve been doing well in one-day cricket and I decided I did deserve my chance.

Parry’s statistics – 30 wickets in Twenty20 games and 20 victims in List A matches – may seem modest, but over the past two summers he has established himself as one of the canniest bowlers in limited-overs cricket, a form of the game in which spinners can frequently excel.

“I’ve worked on my basic skills at Lancashire but I’m also able to assess batsmen more quickly now and I’m able to get one step ahead of them,” he said. “Of course it’s helped to have coaches like Peter Moores helping me. He puts us all through our paces, and we train really hard.

“He prepares us as if we are an international side.”

Parry’s Lancashire colleagues were told of his selection during the team-talk on the Old Trafford outfield prior to Monday evening’s Friends Provident t20 game against Worcestershire – a match in which his 3-19 helped his side to victory – and they greeted the news with a prolonged round of applause.

“Everyone enjoys each other doing well at Lancashire and we share in each other’s success,” said Parry. “Hopefully some of the other players aren’t too far away from selection.”

Lancashire’s senior cricketers have been quick to salute Parry’s achievement. “I am delighted that his consistency for the club this season has been recognised,” said Gary Keedy, one of the trio of left-arm spinners on the Old Trafford staff.

“I watched him on Monday night and he was totally in control of his game.

“He was on top of both his pace and his thought process about where he wanted to put the ball.

“He took a knock at the start of the year when Simon Kerrigan was picked ahead of him in the Championship.

“But he has come back and I am so chuffed for him.”