Pressure on Pope and Crawley with Bethell in line for role against India

Ben Stokes has given a strong indication that Jacob Bethell will return as England's No.3 against India despite his absence for the first Test of the summer against Zimbabwe.

Though the international season kicks off at Trent Bridge on Thursday, Bethell will be more than 4,000 miles away in Lucknow preparing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru's penultimate fixture in the IPL league stages against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday. It will be his last appearance for the franchise before returning to the UK to report for the first ODI against West Indies at Edgbaston next Thursday (May 29).

Bethell was always due to miss the Zimbabwe Test, as per the agreement the ECB had in place with its IPL stars, with the competition originally due to finish on Sunday, prior to the competition's suspension following political unrest between India and Pakistan. Nevertheless, he is expected to return to the Test XI at first drop, after impressing Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum during his maiden Test series against New Zealand at the end of last year.

An average of 52.00 from 260 runs, with three half-centuries among six innings, was underpinned by a level of flair and maturity that earned the 21-year-old rave reviews. McCullum was particularly enamored by how Bethell dealt with the last-minute circumstances of his promotion, following an injury to Jordan Cox on the eve of first Test. With Cox set to keep wicket with Jamie Smith on paternity leave, a rejig saw vice-captain Ollie Pope take the gloves and drop down the order. That opened the door for Bethell to state his case at three, having never batted in that position in the 20 first-class matches prior to his debut in the first Test. He eventually steered England to victory with an unbeaten 50 off 37 deliveries in the fourth innings.

Speaking at the end of the series, McCullum credited both Bethell and Pope for their work during the series, but acknowledged the former had made the future a little less clear for the latter: "He's [Bethell's] definitely given us a good headache and we've got a couple of months to work out what we're doing."

It seems England have now worked out what they are doing. Speaking in the pre-match captain's press conference, Stokes more or less confirmed Bethell will slot back in.

"If you're smart enough, the series that Beth had out in New Zealand, obviously he's going to be back in the UK for that India series," Stokes said, when asked about Bethell. "I think you put 2 and 2 together, you probably know what's going to happen.

"You look at what Beth did in the winter for us, if you talk about nailing down a position, Beth has done himself the world of good by the performances he put in there with being part of our plans going forward."

Stokes' backing of Bethell, on the eve of the first of 11 Tests in a legacy-defining nine months for the team, dials up the pressure on Pope and indeed Zak Crawley. Both have failed to score consistently at the top of the order, with Crawley in particular found wanting in New Zealand, averaging 8.66.

Yet the Kent opener feels the more secure of the two, particularly given his recent exploits against this summer's opponents India, and Australia, finishing as England's leading runscorer in the 2024 and 2023 series against both. Nevertheless, both players have a chance to complicate matters with big runs over the coming days.

That Stokes has willingly heaped pressure on two of his top three batters reflects a broader desire to take his team to the next level. England are now second in the ICC Test Rankings having moved up in May, a jump that prompted the skipper to send a message to McCullum and men's managing director Rob Key saying "one more place to go". There is scope, he feels, for much more.

England have not been No.1 in the world since 2011, off the back of a 2010-11 Ashes success Down Under that they hope to replicate later this year. And though they were knocked off top spot by South Africa in 2012, Stokes believes greater focus and more fine-tuning could bring about a return to the top of the tree should progression and results trend in the right direction.

"If we win what we've got coming up, the likelihood is that we will be at the top of that leaderboard. There's no doubt in my mind we have the ability to be that team.

"A change of mindset, a change of what we think about going out there - it's something both me and Baz felt was needed. We've taken all good things that we've felt we've built over the last three years, but adding to all the good stuff we've managed to achieve and all the good things we've created in that dressing room, it's something we felt this time was the perfect time to do that.

"Baz uses this phrase a lot - we're starting from a place of strength. So for us to be able to build on that, and everyone knows that we have got improvement to do, it's very very exciting that we are where we are as a team at the moment. Everyone understands and knows we've definitely got another level to go to."