England call up Overton and Bess as cover as illness hits camp

Craig Overton and Dominic Bess have been called up by England as cover ahead of the Boxing Day Test against South Africa due to illness in the camp.

A number of players in the England squad are suffering from sickness, so the Somerset duo have been drafted in and will arrive in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The widespread illness has resulted in the warm-up match against South Africa A being downgraded to a friendly, permitting the tourists greater flexibility with their line-up.

An England and Wales Cricket Board spokesperson said: "ECB would like to take this opportunity to thank CSA [Cricket South Africa] for their flexibility on this situation and to emphasise that under normal circumstances we would have wanted to play the match first-class, but illness in the camp has made this very problematic."

Overton and Bess have played four and two Tests respectively.

South Africa named six uncapped players in their squad for the first two Tests and lost Temba Bavuma to a hip flexor muscle strain on Thursday.