Adam Riley trained with England at Lord’s prior to the second test against India last week, and has also been in contact with Australian legend Shane Warne.

The 22-year-old Kent off-spinner has been earning rave reviews for his performances for the county this season; a campaign in which he has taken 33 wickets in 10 Championship appearances at an average of 28.66 so far.

With England still on the lookout for a frontline spin option following the retirement of Graeme Swann this winter, Sidcup-born Riley’s performances have brought him plenty of national coverage, with many touting him to be a potential replacement for Swann in the Test side.

The likes of Peter Such, John Emburey and Angus Fraser from the ECB have been seen at Canterbury in so far this season as the national selectors look to keep an eye on the Riley’s progress. Andrew Strauss and Shane Warne are among those who have publicly come out to press the claim of the Kent man, with Riley also revealing that he had had a conversation with legendary leg-spinner Warne a few weeks ago.

“I spoke to him [Shane Warne] on the phone on one of the days of the Derbyshire game”, Riley explained.

“Keysy [Kent captain Rob Key] set it up and I managed to speak to him on the phone for half an hour before play, just about spin bowling, I guess.

“He said a bit at the beginning and asked a few questions and I just tried to take everything on board and tried to absorb everything he said, because he’s one guy – if you get him talking about cricket, he will talk forever and ever, which is fantastic.

“Hopefully I’ll be able to catch up with him again sometime at some stage. There was a plan to try and meet up with him but it didn’t work out that way with his commentary and stuff. It was fantastic to talk to him.”

Riley is yet to make his international bow, although he was invited to train with England at Lord’s in the build up to the second Test against India last week – something else that he said had been a fantastic experience.

“I had a couple of days up at Lord’s training with and bowling at the England guys”, Riley explained.

“It was a good experience – an enjoyable couple of days. A few of the boys had a day off down here, but I was up at Lord’s having a bit of a trundle.”

Bexley-based Riley was delighted to get involved as he was welcomed into the international setup, and admitted that the buzz for it was something he now very much had the taste for.

“They involved me in quite a lot of stuff – I got involved in the fielding and team meetings, which was more than I thought I would be doing. I thought I’d just be going up there as a bit of a net bowler, but they introduced me to all the guys in the dressing room and gave me a peg at the end to hang my bag up! It was a really good week.”

“I think they were just keen to have a look at me. Probably because it was London-way as well – I’m reasonably local and I could get down there.

“They said at the beginning that they were rewarding me for some good stuff I’ve done this year and they wanted me to get down and have a bowl at the guys and introduce me to a couple of guys.

“Being involved in that environment is something that I’ve got the itch for now and I’d love to get back into it, but obviously I need to put some hard work in and carry on what I’m doing.”

“I guess at the moment, the way I’m going, these opportunities will come for me and I need to make the most of it.

“You don’t get to speak to Shane Warne every day and you don’t get to train with England every day, so it’s a case of enjoying the moments like that and also not resting on your laurels and carrying on the hard work, and I’ll see where it gets me.”

 

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