WESTLEY’S THE RIGHT MAN RIGHT NOW

THE only thing that has stopped Mark Stoneman from making his Test debut next week is probably the fact that he is left-handed. Stoneman might have been just ahead of Tom Westley as a replacement for the injured Gary Ballance, but the fact that the top three would all have been lefthanded matters. It’s all very well England saying they just need to pick their best players but they had to take into account how exceptional Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander are against lefthanders. And I’m pleased they have done. As I’ve said all along, I would like to see Joe Root at three but whatever way they go, England have to stop being 30 for three or 90 for four which keeps on happening. England have been struggling to find the right opening partner for Alastair Cook and their best No 3 since Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott departed. England are right to stick with Keaton Jennings because he is in his infancy as an international cricketer and the bad old days of chopping and changing after a couple of failures have gone. He scored a hundred and a 50 in his first couple of Tests and even though he looks horribly out of nick, Jennings just has to find a way of getting through the new-ball burst from those two wonderful bowlers. For now this is a fantastic opportunity for Westley — and anyone else selected — because if they can get runs in these next two games, with West Indies next up, they will be halfway towards securing their place on the plane to Australia. The selectors do need to keep an eye on what’s coming up this winter which makes it incredibly odd that they went for Ballance at three in the first two Tests. I can’t see what role Liam Dawson would have in the Ashes, either. Westley favours the leg side and he can nick off a bit early but he has a very strong record in county cricket and every time he faces an international attack for the Lions he seems to make big runs. He deserves this chance now.