England coach Trevor Bayliss faces toughest squad selection in two years

As well as a long injury list, Bayliss must also contend with tough calls at the top of the order

Trevor Bayliss' top six will be one batsman short of real quality whatever he does (Getty)

England coach Trevor Bayliss has admitted tomorrow’s selection meeting to decide the squad for next week’s first Test against South Africa will be the toughest in his two years in the job.

Aside from a worrying list of injury doubts among the seam bowlers – on Thursday, Jake Ball was ruled out of the series opener at Lord’s – is the composition of a top six that still looks at least one batsman short of real quality.

One of the only plus points of England’s wretched tour of India last winter, when they were thrashed 4-0, was the discovery of young openers Haseeb Hameed and Keaton Jennings.

The belief was that in Hameed, England had finally found a long-term opening partner for Alastair Cook after nine players had been tried previously in the position since the retirement of former captain Andrew Strauss in 2012.

Jennings, who scored a century on debut in Mumbai when he came into the team for the injured Hameed for the fourth Test, was then supposed to take over at No3 this summer, allowing Joe Root to bat at his preferred position of four in his first series since taking over the captaincy from Cook.

However, Hameed’s desperate form for Lancashire this summer - the 20-year-old has yet to score a half-century in 15 attempts - has made him almost unselectable for this series.

So while the squad for Lord’s – which will be announced on Saturday – will be tough to pick, the decision to leave out Hameed should be one of the more straightforward decisions.

Although Bayliss and Paul Farbrace, his assistant, did not publicly confirm Hameed will be dropped when speaking at an event today for sponsors Investec in London, they gave a strong indication that would be the case.

Jennings is likely to open the batting with Cook (Getty)

“It’s a surprise to all of us he’s had the tough time he’s had,” said Farbrace. “He’s probably trying to work his game out, but he’s definitely got an unbelievable future ahead of him in international cricket, everything about him suggests he will be a major success.

“There’s been quite a lot of conversations. I’ve spoken to Glenn Chappell [the Lancashire coach] a few times and Ramps [England batting coach Mark Ramprakash] has been up to see him. Trevor has spoken to Lancs as well.

“The important thing for now is Ramps keeping in contact with Has because whether or not he plays next Thursday he’s going to be playing a lot for England in the future.

“It’s important we keep in touch with players when they are not in the squad. When people are having a tough time it’s important for them to know people are looking out for them and showing them a little love.”

If the case against Hameed looks open and shut then the rest of England’s picks are less straightforward.

“I think in the two years I’ve been here this is definitely the toughest selection meeting we’ll have had,” said Bayliss. “It will come down to who we put in up top and where we decide to bat Jonny Bairstow.”

With Cook and Jennings appearing set to open, Root will surely have to remain in the No3 position. Whether or not England would ask their wicketkeeper in Bairstow to bat at four is debatable.

That opens the way for a recall for Gary Ballance, who was dropped after a terrible series last winter in Bangladesh, where he scored just 24 runs across four innings.

Hameed has struggled for Lancashire this summer (Getty)

But after gaining the Yorkshire captaincy, Ballance, currently captaining England Lions in their three-day tour match against South Africa in Worcester, is averaging above 100 so far this season.

“It’s great to see him scoring runs,” said Bayliss. ”I’m sure he’ll be spoken about in tomorrow’s selection meeting, quite heavily.

“One thing Gary’s always had in his favour is he’s mentally tough, that’s why he’s been able to come back after being dropped a couple of times and score a lot of runs for Yorkshire.

“There’s no reason why someone like that can’t come back and make a success of international cricket.”