It’s arguably never been harder to pick an England XI. With their away record poor but their 16-man squad packed with talented all-rounders and a host of seam and spin-bowling options, you could throw them together pretty much any way and end up with a broadly plausible team.

Not that that’s what our writers have done. Taking into account the injury to Jonny Bairstow all but confirming he’s missing the first Test, here’s what their expert minds have come up with. Over to you, Joe and Trevor…

Regardless of whether you think England should play two or three spinners, Jack Leach has to play. He’s been the premier spinner in county cricket over the past three years and, most importantly, has experience of bowling on pitches that are particularly conducive to spin bowling. For me, he should be ahead of Adil Rashid when it’s expected that the spinners do the brunt of the work in hot, humid conditions. Pope is also in my team ahead of Denly purely because of the mountain of runs he scored in Division One this season. He’s a frighteningly talented prospect and he should be given time to adjust to the rigours of Test cricket.