Hampshire have appointed England Lions all-rounder James Vince as their captain for this season’s NatWest T20 Blast competition.
Vince, his county’s player of the year in 2013, will remain vice-captain for the LV= County Championship and the Royal London One-Day Cup - a position he was given last month.
The 23-year-old’s first match at the helm in the shortest format comes against Glamorgan at the Ageas Bowl on May 16.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge of captaining the side and it will be a very proud moment to lead the lads out in our first game,” said Vince. “I’m lucky that we have a very talented squad and one that has already had a lot of success in the competition.
“I’ve played under some very good and successful captains who I’ve learnt a lot from so I will try and follow in their footsteps and hopefully we can have another enjoyable and successful T20 season.”
Vince signed a three-year contract extension at Hampshire last summer and spent the winter with the England Performance Programme in Australia and the England Lions on their tour of Sri Lanka.
Giles White, Hampshire’s director of cricket, added: “James has impressed both on and off the pitch and this is a great opportunity for him. He has the respect of the group and thinks about the game well and for those reasons I am sure he will do an excellent job.”