PAUL GRAYSON has tipped in-form batsman Jaik Mickleburgh to push for England Lions selection this winter after his career-best innings last week.
The 23-year-old hit a brilliant 243 as Essex trounced Leicestershire by an innings at Chelmsford, one of three career-best performances for the home side in that game.
Ben Foakes made 120 for his maiden Championship century, while Greg Smith's 5-42 spun Essex to victory.
Mickleburgh's upturn in form started when he scored 90 and 58 in the LV> Challenge match against England at Chelmsford.
Foakes – himself an England Lion from the winter – did 12th man duties for England in the first Ashes Test at Trent Bridge, and Grayson revealed the wicket-keeper and Mickleburgh will be with the England squad for the third Test at Old Trafford next week.
"That's going to give them both an opportunity to work with Graham [Gooch] and sample the big atmosphere of the Test match and be around the place.
"They are both excellent team players, good lads, good fielders, which is the main reason why they're going up.
"But I think the runs Jaik got in that England game impressed everyone, not just at Essex but in the England setup who watched that match, the likes of Andy Flower, Graham Thorpe and Goochie.
"He's certainly on their radar, not for Test cricket but if he finishes the season strongly then there could maybe be opportunities for him to go on tour with the Lions this winter or a performance squad.
"Jaik's played really well in the last couple of weeks.
"Technically, Jaik's probably the best player we've got in the club.
"He's the first to admit that he's never scored the runs he would have liked to have done, but he has shown everyone that he's got the ability to go on and get matchwinning scores."
Things are looking up for Essex at the moment, and they head to the Ageas Bowl tomorrow night (Friday) for a Friends Life t20 clash with holders Hampshire Royals knowing that a win will almost certainly book them a quarter-final spot.
That follows three wins in a row, including a convincing success at Sussex on Sunday thanks to an "absolute exhibition" of batting from Hamish Rutherford, who smacked 88 from 43 balls to make short work of the Eagles' target.
And Grayson added: "It's been a good couple of weeks. We've played some good cricket both in the Championship and in the T20, winning three on the spin.
"We've given ourselves a good opportunity to go through in Twenty20 now, I think one more win will probably get us through, and we'll certainly try and win those last two matches.
"The spirit's good in the camp, confidence is very high, we've found a nice method to our T20 cricket, I've been really pleased with some individual performances but more importantly how the team's played.
"I think Hamish has been a terrific signing for us in Twenty20 cricket, he's got us off to a flying start every time.
"Of all the batting powerplays we've had, we've won 90 per cent of them, we lost that one to Middlesex, but all the others we've won, we've got off to brilliant starts. It was an absolute exhibition on Sunday, as a ball striker, talent-wise, he's as good as anyone around."
