Buttler retains Silverwood’s faith as Denly looks doomed

England head coach Chris Silverwood’s faith in Jos Buttler is undiminished after defeat by the West Indies in the first Test of the summer, but time may be up for Joe Denly.

The decision to omit Stuart Broad caused the biggest stir at the Ageas Bowl but England’s

long-stated intention to rotate their seamers during a busy period of six Tests in seven weeks renders that something of a red herring.

Instead, the game was won andlostintwopassagesofengland batting – an under-powered 204 in the first innings and the loss of five wickets for 30 runs on the fourth evening.

Denly and Buttler, right, were involved in both passages and find themselves increasingly under pressure for their places – the former being squeezed by Joe Root’s return as captain and Zak Crawley’s fine 76 on Saturday, the latter from Surrey gloveman Ben Foakes.

Silverwood, though, could only offer strong reassurance to one of the duo.

Asked to explain Buttler’s diminishing contributions – a Test average of 23.22 since the start of 2019 and now only one hundred in 75 innings – Silverwood said: “I’m not gonna go down that road yet of putting Jos under pressure, because I don’t think it’s going to help him. First and foremost we wanttogivejosthebestopportunity to succeed. But I’m sure he is asking the same questions. He looked brilliant coming into this game, in practice and everything and he looked very good in the first innings. He just needs to go and make those big scores now doesn’t he? He knows that as well. From our point of view it’s just making sure that he feels confident in the environment he’s in.”

A clear indication that Foakes, a market leader behind the stumps and owner of an impressive batting average of 41.50 from five Tests, will again be among the reserves when they show their hand for Thursday’s second Test.

Therelookssuretobechange higher up the order, though, with Denly’s knocks of 18 and 29 doing little to show that he can haul his performances up to the required standard for a long-term Test No 3.

He has a staunch defender in national selector Ed Smith and has proved his value by frequently batting through long periods in his 15 caps. But, at 22, Crawley is 12 years his junior and with England’s top score of the match in tense circumstances in the second innings, made a grab for the shirt.

Root will return as a matter of course and Denly is now the logical choice to stand down.

“We’re all desperate to see Joe do really well. We can see he’s trying hard, he’s training hard and he’s a great bloke, hence why we all went to see him do well,” said Silverwood.

“But obviously he’s under pressure a little bit, yes. Zak is improving constantly. I think he certainly showed maturity and the innings he played was very good.”