ESSEX duo Tymal Mills and Adam Wheater are among 13 players who have been selected as potential England Performance Programme players for 2011/12.

Mills, the fast bowler from Mildenhall, and wicket-keeper batsman Wheater will undertake a period of training at the National Cricket Performance Centre in Loughborough followed by a three-week training camp in Colombo, Sri Lanka and a seven-week match play element also in Sri Lanka for batsmen and spin bowlers and a training camp in India for the fast bowers.

ECB Performance Director David Parsons said: “This programme allows us to work with a group of players who have shown considerable promise both in age group cricket and in county cricket. Batsmen and spin bowlers will have training blocks in both Loughborough and Sri Lanka as well as a seven week match play opportunity in Sri Lanka giving players a useful opportunity to develop their skills in sub-continent conditions.

The fast bowlers in the group will undertake a conditioning block in Loughborough before a training camp in India. This has been a key stage in the development of a number of young fast bowlers who have gone to represent England Lions and England with Steven Finn, Stuart Meaker, Jade Dernbach and Chris Woakes all benefiting from this programme in recent years.”

Potential England Performance Programme players: Moeen Ali (Worcestershire), Moin Ashraf (Yorkshire), Karl Brown (Lancashire), Varun Chopra (Warwickshire), Matthew Coles (Kent), Matthew Dunn (Surrey), Tymal Mills (Essex), Jigar Naik (Leicestershire), Stephen Parry (Lancashire), Toby Roland-Jones (Middlesex), Alex Wakely (Northamptonshire), Luke Wells (Sussex), Adam Wheater (Essex).