Roy ready for Irish test after Smith oversight

Debutant has one game to get up to speed for Ashes while Foakes and Denly make their case

Not since 1958, when the custom of presenting debs at court was abolished, will London have seen so many debutants as it will next Wednesday, when England meet Ireland at Lord’s in a Test match – scheduled for four, not five days – for the first time.

Ireland could have up to four debutants, and none of their players have played more than two Tests. England are set to have Jason Roy making his Test debut, while Rory Burns, Joe Denly and Ben Foakes make their home debuts in Tests, if not at the height of the season like the good old days, then at least as a welcome bridge between the World Cup and the Ashes.

Ed Smith, England’s national selector, may not be admitting it when he announces the squad for the Ireland Test at Canterbury on the last afternoon of the Lions’ game against Australia A, but his panel made a mistake in not taking Roy to the West Indies earlier this year. They selected Keaton Jennings and Denly as the opening partners for Burns, who had established himself on the previous tour of Sri Lanka, and neither fulfilled the role, which was predictable after England’s pre-christmas tour of Sri Lanka.

In the three Tests in the West Indies, as Burns’s opening partner, Jennings scored 17, 14, eight and 23, while Denly made six and 17. They faced high-class opening bowlers in Kemar Roach and Shannon Gabriel, somewhat quicker than Ireland’s, but on a par with Australia’s when the Ashes start on Aug 1.

Roy could hardly have done worse and might have banked some worthwhile knowledge of Test batting. As it is, assuming he does not aggravate his hamstring before the Ireland Test, he will play his first first-class match – his first game with a red ball – since last November, and then he batted at No3 for the Lions against Pakistan A in Abu Dhabi, making a coruscating 59 off 73 balls with two sixes. As Geoffrey Boycott

remarked in his Telegraph Sport column last Monday, Roy has to continue to play the same way in Tests – similarly forthright shots to spread the field and demoralise bowlers, while leaving the occasional ball.

Denly went down to No 3 for the final Test in St Lucia, after West Indies had won the series, and made 69 in the second innings to help set up England’s declaration, when the hosts were a pace bowler down.

He was always up with the pace, and played some excellent cover drives, although it was rather hit-and-miss against Gabriel.

This season Denly has kicked on, and Joe Root has yet to be persuaded that he is the ideal man to bat at No 3, in spite of all the evidence to the contrary. Denly has posted two scores above 150 in the first division, but the reservation is that, at 33, he is not going to adjust his mindset to Test-match defence for whole sessions at a time.

Foakes will cover for Jonny Bairstow if he has not recovered from the groin strain he suffered when turning for a second run and

The selection panel made a mistake by not taking Roy to the West Indies earlier this year

slipping in the World Cup semifinal against Australia.

The youngest England player at the ball, or with a ball at Lord’s next Wednesday, will not be a debutant, however, but a freshfaced lad who has just returned from making his fortune in India.

Sam Curran turned 21 last month, but has already played nine Tests and starred in a matchwinning role in three of them. The let-down did not come until the West Indies, when Curran could not make the new ball swing or the old ball reverse-swing.

For the Lions against Australia A, the youngest Curran has already had a five-wicket spell with his left-arm swing and scored a half-century. It would be ridiculous if he had to bat at 10, but England’s lower order against Ireland will be so strong he might have to. Take away Stuart Broad and the order could even be reversed.