Roy deserves a Test call-up

ENGLAND must keep an eye on the bigger picture when they name their squad to face West Indies by handing Jason Roy his first Test call-up. Only the identity of the spare batsman in a 16-man squad will delay the selectors when they meet today at Lord’s now that Ben Stokes has been cleared to take his place on the plane to Barbados on January 11. But Ed Smith, James Taylor and captain Joe Root, with coach Trevor Bayliss contributing by phone from his home in Sydney, need to think of next summer’s Ashes series when they select the squad to follow up the 3-0 series win in Sri Lanka. Keaton Jennings and Rory Burns had their moments in Sri Lanka, but both failed to cement their places at the top of the order. That means England have just three Tests in the Caribbean and the one-off game against Ireland in July to finalise their line-up before the series against Australia. Even though Roy has made his name in white-ball cricket, and has a modest first-class record, he is the next man in line to take on what has proved the thankless task of scoring runs as England’s Test opener and the long-term successor to Alastair Cook. Root is believed to have wanted the hard-hitting Roy with him in Sri Lanka but in the end England plumped for Joe Denly and the promising but raw Ollie Pope. Neither did enough to play in any of the three Tests. Denly, at 32 a surprise selection, had been expected to start at No 3, but he looked so out of his depth in the warm-ups that he played himself out of contention. Pope ended up being sent to join the Lions in the UAE to get some practice. The spectacular arrival of Ben Foakes, called up to cover for the injured Jonny Bairstow, means only one batting place remains and it should go to Roy ahead of Denly and Pope. Root has taken his cue from the one-day success of Eoin Morgan’s white-ball side in advocating an audacious, attacking style of play. And Surrey’s Roy, 28, is perfectly suited as a potential opener who could take the attack to Australia’s big fast bowling guns next summer if either Jennings or Burns fail to prove in the Caribbean that they are in Test cricket for the long haul. The rest of the squad virtually picks itself, with spin again sure to play a big part on what are now the slow pitches of the Caribbean. England are expected to give Ollie Stone another chance to provide the pace lacking from their attack. England need to find out about Stone soon, with the prospect of the newly eligible Jofra Archer being available to bowl 90mph-plus from next summer.