Selection deja vu for England coach

Head coach Trevor Bayliss admits England’s top three is up in the air heading into an Ashes summer and is no closer to finding a firstchoice Test XI than he was four years ago.

A 232-run win over the West Indies in St Lucia represented the final away Test of Bayliss’ reign, which will come to an end after this year’s clash with Australia.

His first overseas assignment in the role, a fine 2-1 success in South Africa in 2015-16, ended with question marks over batsmen Alex Hales, Nick Compton and James Taylor and Bayliss calling for challengers to emerge from the county game.

Six Test tours later, there is a sense of deja vu with Rory Burns, Keaton Jennings and Joe Denly the men under the microscope.

“We’re still looking for those places. Supporters of English cricket want to have 11 exceptional cricketers but it’s taking time,” Bayliss said.

“The guys trying to nail those places down are working their backsides off to do well but it’s taken a bit longer than they would like and longer than we would like as well. They’ve all shown what they can do but it’s about doing it more regularly.”

National selector Ed Smith and Taylor, now on the panel following his premature retirement with heart problems, will have their own views but Bayliss appears willing to consider options when England resume their redball exploits following the World Cup.

That includes the unlikely option of Burns, Jennings and Denly being retained as a trio, a gamble given they average just 25, 25.19 and 28 respectively.

Bayliss was also clear there were other candidates, such as the uncapped one-day opener Jason Roy and the recently discarded James Vince.

He said: “If those two guys come out and score runs they’ll be in the mix as well.”

England head coach Trevor Bayliss.