5 things we learned from England’s latest Test squad announcement

England have made sweeping changes to their Test squad, reacting decisively to their Ashes humiliation with a major overhaul for the forthcoming tour of the West Indies.

Here, we look at the key issues arising from the big announcement.

Succession planning for life after England’s two most prolific bowlers ever has been ongoing for years, but somehow the omission of a 39-year-old seamer and his 35-year-old partner still came across as a ruthless move. On form, both men deserve their place in the squad – they each outperformed Chris Woakes in Australia and Craig Overton has yet to show he can be a trustworthy successor – but an interim management team of Sir Andrew Strauss and Paul Collingwood have made the bold decision to accelerate the move towards a new chapter. There is a chance they will be given the chance to add to their combined haul of 1,177 Test scalps in the summer if the new head coach wants them, but for now there is the very real prospect that they have reached an abrupt end.

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As he pondered England’s opening options, Strauss may have cast a rueful glance at the long list of names who have tried and failed to take up the mantle he left behind a decade ago. England have never adequately replaced him, nor his old partner Sir Alastair Cook Rory Burns and Haseeb Hameed have both been moved on after desperate tours of Australia, while Zak Crawley has kept his place on potential as much as anything. That means Durham’s Alex Lees is the next man to get his chance. With no other openers included, Lees looks certain to play all three games in the Caribbean and, at the age of 28, he has seen enough ups and downs over the course of his career to know his own game. Perform well and he could lock down his spot for the summer.

If England are to achieve their stated aim of fashioning a more competitive bowling attack away from home, then a quick, reverse swinger like Saqib Mahmood and a leg-spinner capable of magic balls like Matt Parkinson could have major parts to play. Collingwood has seen plenty of the pair around the white-ball set-up and, with the wind of change in the air, must be tempted to give them debuts. But Emirates Old Trafford is home to plenty of the domestic game’s most exciting prospects and their delight will have been matched by disappointment for middle-order batter Josh Bohannon and limited-overs star Liam Livingstone.

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England have long boasted deep reserves of wicketkeeper-batters, with Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler trading the gloves for a number of years, while a number of talented batters have plied their trade as part-time stumpers. But by a distance the best specialist is Ben Foakes who has managed just eight caps since his player-of-the-series bow in 2018. The lack of reference to Buttler’s recent broken finger in Tuesday’s squad announcement indicates he has been overlooked on grounds of form as much as fitness and Bairstow could be asked to focus on his role as a senior middle-order player. That means Foakes could return on the same tour he was first dropped during three years ago and lends the team something they have been conspicuously short of: a genuinely world-class performer in his chosen discipline.

Captain Joe Root’s sensational year with the bat was one of the very bright spots for England’s Test side in 2021. He scored 1,708 runs at an average of 61 and reeled off six hundreds along the way. But rather than ink him in as a banker at number four, it seems he has accepted the task of going back to number three. We have been here before, with Root averaging 38.66 in 53 innings at first drop compared to 51.27 at his current position one place further down. England badly need him to bring his best form or they will be counting the cost of tinkering with their most effective performer.