Five selection questions facing England ahead of the West Indies Test tour

The first squad announcement after yet another overseas Ashes debacle is likely to attract greater interest than the regular naming of a touring Test group. Below, Yas Rana looks at the biggest questions ahead of the announcement.

Which openers will survive the axe?

The Ashes was a particularly grim experience for England’s openers. Haseeb Hameed averaged exactly 10 from his four Tests while Rory Burns only fared marginally better, averaging 12.83 from three appearances. Remarkably, Zak Crawley’s 77 at Sydney was the only time an England opener passed 40 all series. Neither Hameed nor Burns can really complain if they don’t make the plane to the West Indies.

Despite then assistant coach Graham Thorpe’s public questioning of Burns’ technique mid-series, it is still possible that Burns retains his place in the squad. It wasn’t that long ago that he was being touted as a realistic successor to Root as captain and while that seems a while off now, he is still the standout opener in the County Championship over recent years. The gamble to recall Hameed, who has scored hundreds in just two County Championship games in the last five summers, did not come close to paying off and he is the opener most likely to face the axe.

Another recently dropped England opener in the frame is Dom Sibley. Discarded after a poor start to the 2021 Test summer, there were signs that he was rediscovering his best form towards the end of the County Championship season, and his director of cricket at Warwickshire, Paul Farbrace, has said that he’s made some technical improvements.

James Bracey was one of a handful of English batters to return from Australia with his reputation enhanced, having scored a century batting at three against an Australia A attack led by Scott Boland in Brisbane. Alex Lees captained that England Lions side and has enjoyed a quietly productive few years at Chester-le-Street, while Warwickshire’s Rob Yates and Sussex’s Tom Haines – 22 and 23 respectively – represent two options England could invest in. Sam Robson and Jake Libby were two of the five batters to pass 1,000 runs in the 2021 County Championship.

How much change will there be in the middle?

Should England retain Burns and recall Sibley, there’s a chance that England’s top six retains what would be a depressing familiarity for some England supporters.

While it’s clear that Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow are guaranteed to make the cut, it is less obvious what will happen with the other middle order batters who were taken to Australia. Dawid Malan had a strange Ashes campaign, having started it as one of England’s few in-form batters and ending it as out-of-rhythm as any England batter looked all winter. Though there are mitigating factors at play – Malan went to the T20 World Cup that preceded the Ashes and even missed the birth of his child during the Hobart Test – it would not be unfair for England to look at his record – an average of 27.53 from 22 Tests – and decide to move on from the 34-year-old.

Ollie Pope, like Burns, was picked, dropped then recalled during the Ashes and looks some way off the player who scored a hundred at Port Elizabeth as a 22-year-old back in 2020. Again, Pope should not have any qualms if he doesn’t make the plane.

The lack of obvious alternatives is what is in Malan and Pope’s favour for retention. Dan Lawrence wasn’t entrusted with a single Test in Australia despite the failures of the men above him in the pecking order and it’s not as if there was a long queue of middle order batters banging down the door in the 2021 County Championship. The list of possible inclusions here are hardly bulletproof suggestions. Josh Bohannon only has three first-class hundreds to his name, James Vince averages less than 25 in Test cricket, Liam Livingstone hasn’t passed 25 in a first-class game in two and a half years, Harry Brook averages less than 28 in first-class cricket, Tom Abell is another with a career average under 33, and Bracey looked all at sea in his first two Test appearances. Take your pick.

Foakes to return?

Jos Buttler was another to endure a torrid tour of Australia. While the extent of his struggles as a Test cricketer is overblown, now feels like the natural time to put an end to a four-year experiment that blew hot and cold. Ben Foakes – who averages less with the bat in Test cricket than Buttler – is the obvious replacement. The incumbent Sam Billings is still very much in the frame and may fit the number seven role more naturally than Foakes, though it is undisputed that the Surrey man is the superior gloveman. It is also possible that England hand the gloves to Bairstow and squeeze in additional specialist batter in the XI.

Any new quicks?

On the whole, England generally bowled well in Australia so don’t expect wholesale changes in the bowling department. Saqib Mahmood has been touted for a Test debut for some time and is a possibility, as is Liam Norwell, who spearheaded Warwickshire’s charge for the County Championship in 2021 and took 5-58 for the Lions against Australia A this winter.

Change in the spin department?

Jack Leach had an awkward Ashes but finished it with his best performance of the series, taking 4-84 in the second innings at Sydney. Leach hasn’t played a home Test since 2019 and deserves a proper run in the side. Dom Bess was the reserve spinner in Australia and having not played, you’d expect his position in the pecking order to remain unmoved. Neither Mason Crane or Matt Parkinson played in England Lions’ game against Australia A but are the obvious options should Collingwood look to shake things up.