Fitness, form present familiar dilemmas as England prepare to name first Test squad of new era
Jamie Overton, Harry Brook and Matthew Potts are among the contenders for selection on Wednesday morning
Openers
A perennial problem area for selection, from the cast of thousands who partnered Alastair Cook to frequent chopping and changing among four or five familiar candidates over the last couple of years. Zak Crawley and Alex Lees are the incumbent openers, but they averaged just 21.33 across six Tests in the Caribbean, with a highest stand of 51. Since coming back, Crawley has struggled for form with Kent - four single-figure scores and a best of 54 from eight innings - but can point to innings of 77 at the SCG and 121 in Antigua, not to mention his mammoth 267 in 2020, as reasons to stick with him.
Possibles: Alex Lees, Dom Sibley
Middle-order batters
Some clarity here, at least. Two of the very few selection certainties are Root and Stokes, who have already been inked in at No. 4 and No. 6 respectively. That means England are looking for a No. 3 - another position that has tended to be filled by locums - and a No. 5, with a variety of fresh faces and previously capped players making a case among the glut of early season run-scoring. Of those actually batting at No. 3 for their counties, the three with the best numbers are Ben Duckett, Tom Abell and Nick Gubbins, none of whom has been close to selection recently. For that reason, England could return to Dawid Malan, who was first drop in Australia over the winter and has 482 runs at 80.33 this season, mostly batting at No. 4 - though he will miss this round of Championship fixtures with a sore Achilles - or even shuffle Crawley back down.
Probables: Ollie Pope, Harry Brook, Jonny Bairstow
Possibles: Dawid Malan, Tom Abell, Nick Gubbins, Dan Lawrence
Wicketkeeper
England seemed to have finally made up their mind to give Ben Foakes a crack at proving his credentials as the world's best gloveman - copyright, Alec Stewart - during an extended run in the Test side. But his keeping in the West Indies was a little scruffy, and neither did the runs flow… meanwhile, over at the IPL, Jos Buttler has slipped seamlessly back into his groove as one of the most-domineering forces in the white-ball game. Could his friendship with Stokes, as well as the support of a fellow T20 maverick in McCullum, lead to Buttler making yet another Test comeback? The fact the first Test begins just four days after the IPL final, with Buttler's Rajasthan Royals very much still in contention, mitigates the chances - but stranger things have happened. For that reason we can't entirely discount Bairstow either, a key man alongside Stokes in the engine room during his best years in Test cricket. But Foakes, who has made 395 runs at 98.75 for Surrey, remains the frontrunner.
Possible: Jos Buttler
Bowlers
It is almost a decade since England rested both James Anderson and Stuart Broad from a home Test against West Indies as part of some attempted succession planning. But here we are, a couple of months after they were both omitted for the tour to the Caribbean, with the old stagers primed to take centre stage once again. Stokes has already intimated that he considers them both part of his best XI, and they are - somewhat ironically - among the few fit options at England's disposal. A lengthy list of those in the treatment room includes Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Saqib Mahmood, Matthew Fisher and Jofra Archer, while Sam Curran is easing his way back from a back stress fracture and Ollie Robinson has only delivered 59 overs - some of that bowling offspin - across two outings for Sussex.
Probables: Matthew Potts, Jack Leach
Possibles: Jamie Overton, Ollie Robinson, Craig Overton, Matt Parkinson
Alan Gardner is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo. @alanroderick