England face an unenviable task whittling down their fast bowling options ahead of the first Test of their series against the West Indies.

With Dom Bess almost certain to play as England’s sole spinner, England will likely need to choose just three of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood and Chris Woakes to line-up alongside stand-in captain Ben Stokes in their bowling attack for the first Test of the summer.

All five options have their merits. Anderson and Broad are England’s two greatest Test match wicket-takers and despite their advancing years, neither have shown obvious signs of decline. Competing against them are Archer, who has taken the international cricketing world by storm in his first year as an England bowler, Wood, who has been England’s Player of the Match twice in his last three Tests and Woakes, who is comfortably the best batsman of the five and boasts an excellent record with the ball in home Tests.

Here’s who Wisden’s writers would each pick for the first Test at the Ageas Bowl:

Ben Gardner, wisden.com managing editor

Ben Stokes
Chris Woakes
Jofra Archer
Stuart Broad

Keeping in mind that, with six Tests packed into seven manic weeks, England are probably going to have to press all their quicks into service at some point, and they should already have it mapped out when each is going to be rested and rotated. If they have any sense, they’ll have pencilled in Chris ‘genuine all-rounder’ Woakes for the game that Joe Root will be forced to miss. Only one member of England’s likely top six for the first Test has more than 15 caps to his name, and Kemar Roach, Alzarri Joseph, Shannon Gabriel, and Jason Holder is an attack up there with the best in the world. Take into account the inevitable ringrust from three months spent playing Xbox, and England will need all the batting depth they can muster. Jofra Archer, as Stuart Broad says, picks himself, but that leaves you forced to choose between England’s two all-time leading wicket-takers and for me it’s Broad, by a nose hair, considering you’ll want Anderson for both Old Trafford Tests.

Phil Walker, Wisden Cricket Monthly editor-in-chief

Ben Stokes
Jofra Archer
Stuart Broad
James Anderson

It’s the out of kilter properties of the pitch – a midsummer track for an early season match – that makes this a tough one to call. The game last week was played on a sluggish thing, with little in the way of pace and zip, and so, on a similar track, it falls again to our cultural monuments to get it done. They are still the most stingy bowlers in England, and if anything are helped by the depth and class of the support cast – with Ollie Robinson the latest intriguing addition – offering them all the motivation they need to keep defying the science. After those two: Archer, by a nose, from Wood, and for obvious reasons. He has the attributes to cut through the limitations of the pitch, and if they need to bowl dry, which they will, then he can do that too, because he can do everything. Not that these three will have much to do anyway, because the gaffer will bowl unchanged from one end all match.

Yas Rana, wisden.com head of content

Ben Stokes
Jofra Archer
Mark Wood
Stuart Broad

I envy a lot of things about Ben Stokes but the decision he’ll have to make when narrowing down his pace attack from five to three is not one of them; England, in my lifetime at least, have never had such a compelling array of fast bowling options at their disposal at the same time. If the wicket is anything near as sluggish as the surface England used in the intra-squad friendly then I can’t see how they can leave out Mark Wood or Jofra Archer. Comfortably the quickest pair on show in the warm-up fixture, both have produced the goods whenever called upon in England whites over the past 18 months. On a lifeless surface and as part a five-man attack, I’d want England’s most penetrative quicks in the XI. As sacrilegious as it might seem, the debate for me is really about which of Anderson or Broad you leave out and after Broad’s superb 2019 home summer, it’s Anderson who misses out.

Sam Dyer, wisden.com staff writer

Ben Stokes
Jofra Archer
Stuart Broad
James Anderson

Ben Stokes is obviously already in the team. And let’s be honest, there’s no way he’s not going to bowl himself. He’s not the sort of player to step back and let others graft, so I expect him to be a fully involved member of the bowling attack in addition to his roles as captain and middle-order batsman.

How can you really justify leaving out either of England’s leading wicket-takers? I certainly can’t. Not only are they world-beaters individually, Broad and Anderson only improve when together.

So that leaves one spot. With Dom Bess basically guaranteed the spinner’s berth and so filling the No.8 spot, batting doesn’t need to come into the equation – as tempting as it is to pick Chris Woakes (or if he were healthy, Sam Curran) and bump Bess down to a more comfortable No.9. But I want to stick by the principle of picking bowlers for their bowling.

Archer or Wood then, and it’s pretty much a coin toss. While Wood’s performance in St. Lucia last year makes a strong case for his inclusion, Archer edges it for me purely on the fact that he’s younger; you may as well give the experience to someone who has longer left playing for England.

James Wallace, Wisden Cricket Monthly staff writer

Ben Stokes
Jofra Archer
Stuart Broad
James Anderson

Tempting as it might be for Chris Silverwood to try the ‘shock and awe’ approach grimly synonymous with Donald ‘nasty grandpa’ Rumsfeld and deploy the heavy artillery of Wood and Archer at the Ageas Bowl, I’m going for Broad, Anderson, Archer and Stokes to chip in as needed. I’m looking forward to seeing how Stokes approaches the demands and decisions of the top job, albeit for what is probably a solitary game.

Three back-to-back Test matches followed by the same against Pakistan will allow plenty of time for a rest and rotation policy. With Old Trafford likely to be the bouncier of the two pitches I’d like to keep Wood in the hutch for a northern-based barrage. Woakes and Curran will undoubtedly get a trot out too, England’s seam reserves are currently bursting and they’ll need to be, as the two old gunslingers creep ever nearer to the saloon door of retirement.