Young guns: Rob Smyth's six to follow
Danny Briggs, 19
A tall left-arm spinner who has modelled his game on Daniel Vettori and has a similar mix of craft and craftiness. Briggs was a revelation on the Lions tour of the Caribbean. He was England's leading wicket-taker by a distance, taking 33 at an average of 18.87 in the regional four-day competition, and excelled for Hampshire during last year's Twenty20 Finals Day
James Hildreth, 26
Hildreth has been on England's radar for a long time - he caught Ricky Ponting during the 2005 Lord's Test - and was described as "an extraordinary talent" by his former Somerset team-mate Justin Langer. He is a stylish, fleet-footed right-hander who top-scored as captain on the recent Lions tour
James Taylor, 21
A tiny man with an appetite for big hundreds, everything about Taylor suggests a class act - from his easy, authoritative strokeplay to the calm and emphatic manner in which he has responded to every challenge for Leicestershire and the England Lions
Adam Lyth, 23
A typical modern opener: fearless, dashing and dominant. His big breakthrough came last year, when he was the first man to reach 1,000 first-class runs. Geoffrey Boycott, one of Lyth's predecessors as a Yorkshire opener, certainly approves: he has compared him to David Gower
Reece Topley, 17
At 6ft 7in, Topley is yet another tall English fast bowler - but with a difference. He is a left-armer, and his main weapon is swing rather than bounce. Topley, who is studying for his A-levels, has had a fine start to his Essex career, with five-fors in his first two Championship matches
Ben Stokes, 19
A big, strong, charismatic all-rounder who has inevitably been compared to Andrew Flintoff. Stokes, who was born in New Zealand, had an outstanding 2010 for Durham and began this season by smashing 31 off an over as part of a bravura performance against Hampshire.
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