Key questions facing England selectors ahead of First Test vs Sri Lanka

A partner for Alastair Cook and a possible recall for Ian Bell are among the topics up for debate ahead of next week's Test

An opening partner for captain Alastair Cook is one of the topics up for discussion when the England selectors meet on Tuesday (Getty Images)

All should be rosy in the England Test camp - their last outing was, after all, the scintillating 2-1 series victory in South Africa’s back garden that knocked the hosts off the world No 1 perch.

But with English cricket, of course, it is never quite so.

The selectors meet on Tuesday ahead of the first Test against Sri Lanka next week and it won’t be a quick chat and off to the pub - there is plenty to ponder. Alastair Cook, who will be in attendance but has no official say in picking the squad, said last week there are “tough decisions” to make.

First on the agenda will be the quandary that won’t go away: who should open the batting alongside Cook?

The England captain has made a fine start to the season in Essex colours with three centuries to his name already so at least that is cause for comfort.

But who should walk out with him is of course the question that keeps popping up since Andrew Strauss played his 100th, and last, Test in 2012.

Cook’s had more partners that Henry VIII since. From Carberry to Lyth, Compton to Trott, Moeen Ali, Robson and Root it has been a catalogue of failed experiments.

OPENERS

Alex Hales (Notts)

The present incumbent and the safe bet would be to stick with him. However, he only made one score of over 50 during eight innings in South Africa and is averaging a messy 18 for his four Tests. Maybe it is too soon to jettison the aggressive right-hander but his footwork in his Test career to date has looked suspect - he can play away from his body and has been caught in the slips too often. In his first County Championship match of the summer last week he made 36 and 34 against Yorkshire: hardly an unanswerable case for inclusion. On Sunday, there were signs of improvement as he made 73 against Middlesex with 10 fours and a six.


 Alex Hales struggled against South Africa and has not set the County stage alight 
 (Getty)

Adam Lyth (Yorkshire)

If Hales isn’t the man it could be u-turn time and a recall for Lyth or Sam Robson. Left-handed Lyth has played seven Tests - last summer against New Zealand and Australia - and struggled to impose himself (averaging 20) and looked shot by the time the Ashes were swept up by England. Lyth hit a ton in the first Championship game of the season but failed twice last week in the televised match against Notts. He followed that up with just 13 on Monday in the current match against Surrey while two undroppable England players Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow made light of the opposition attack by smashing big tons.

Sam Robson (Middlesex)

The right-handed Robson, on the other hand, looked slightly more to the manor born in his brief stay in England colours. The 26-year-old Aussie-born bat didn’t rip up hundreds of trees but felled one or two as he made one century and averaged 30 in his seven Tests before he got the chop. Robson started the season like a man on a mission - making a double ton and a ton against Warwickshire but has dipped since.

Mark Stoneman (Durham)

Stoneman’s name pops up when classy opening batsmen around the shires are discussed and he’s not let anyone at Durham down over the last few seasons. The 28-year-old left-hander made a career-best 1,131 runs last summer and has made a fine start to this campaign too, hitting 141 unbeaten against Middlesex in April.

Tom Westley (Essex)

If the selectors go left-field they may alight upon the name of Cook’s Essex team-mate. Coached by one Graham Gooch, the right-hander has long been in England’s thoughts without ever making them act on them. The 27-year-old, who made a century against the Aussies last summer, has yoyoed up and down the Essex order but is in decent nick this term with two Championship tons to his name - albeit in the Second Division. On Monday, he added another three-figure score against the Sri Lankans which will have done him no harm.

No 3

Nick Compton (Middlesex)

First drop will be second up for the selectors to ruminate over. Compton, 32, holds the spot at the moment but he failed to cement it in South Africa. He played doggedly at times and helped set up victory in the first Test but doubts persist that he truly has what it takes. He started this season with a golden duck for Middlesex and, although it’s improved from there (it couldn't really do much else), it has been far from a runfest.

James Vince (Hampshire)

The Hampshire man has been talked up as an England player for some time and has a lovely technique when all is tickety-boo - in fact, he has often been compared to Michael Vaughan, who thinks he should be given a chance this summer. However, there are doubts about the 25-year-old’s attitude. The right-hander has one ton to his name this summer and was run out for a duck in the current round against Lancashire - but it may be time to see if he sinks or swims in the big pond of international cricket.

No 5

Ian Bell (Warwickshire)

The other open door in the England team is, of course, in the middle order due to the sad retirement of James Taylor due to ill health. Again it may be about-turn time with Gary Ballance and Ian Bell the likely candidates. It may be telling that Cook had dinner with Bell recently, although the England captain was at pains to point out that old friends catching up was on the menu rather than them chewing over Bell resuming his international duties. The 34-year-old, of course, can be sublime and has done it all at international level. He can, equally, be infuriating. Omission from the South Africa tour may have given him the kick up the behind he needed - when he was dropped earlier in his career he came back strongly - or his best days may have come and gone. His season has been a mixed bag - sound familiar? - with 174 against Hants in the First Division and 4 against Notts' second XI last week.

Ian Bell needs to prove his best days are not behind him at international level (Reuters)

Gary Ballance (Yorkshire)

The left-handed Zimbabwe-born bat made a sensational start to his Test career and still averages 47 at the elite level, but - and there has to be a but or he’d be a shoo-in still - his technique is flawed. Standing deep in the crease and playing off the back foot across his front pad is dangerous although it can work for him - as four centuries in 15 Tests suggests. But the better bowlers found him out as he discovered against Australia last summer when he was dropped mid-Ashes. He has been unable - or unwilling - to tinker with his technique and it may count against him. That and a so-so season so far.